Billionaire Pakistani family rises in UK Asian rich list

LONDON: Bestway Group family members Sir Anwar Pervez, Zameer Chaudhary and Younis Sheikh have risen in the list of richest Asians in Britain and their ranking overall among the richest businesses in Britain has also climbed.

According to the latest edition of the Sunday Times Rich list, the Bestway Group family members Sir Pervez and Zameer Chaudhary, the CEO of the group and leader of the Conservative Friends of Pakistan, have been estimated at worth £3.534bn and £1.755bn, respectively.

Sir Anwar Pervez is up £439m and his nephew Zameer Chaudhary is up £548m compared to last year — taking them both to the billionaires’ list. Sir Anwar Pervez has been listed in the cash and carry category while his nephew Zameer Chaudhary is in the category of cash and carry and pharmacies. Their business interest in Pakistan — cement and banking — is not taken into account for the UK ranking and their ranking could be much higher if their Pakistan worth was also added.

In the latest list of 40 richest Asians in the UK, Sir Anwar Pervez is placed at number 6 and Zameer Chaudhary is placed at number 12. Younis Sheikh, chairman of Bestway Wholesale, is estimated at £609m, up from £189m last year. Sir Pervez, 84, emigrated from Gujjar Khan in Pakistan aged 21 and worked as a bus conductor, starting Bestway in 1976.

In the overall list of richest Asians, Indians overwhelmingly dominate the list of 40 richest people. Sri and Gopi Hinduja — known as Hinduja brothers — are the richest Asians in the UK, according to the new edition of the Rich List. The new edition reveals the wealth of the 1,000 richest people in Britain in its 31st annual edition. There are 81 Asians among this year’s richest 1,000.

The Hinduja brothers are top of The Sunday Times Rich List overall, making them the richest in the UK for the third time, in both Asian and overall categories.

An increase of £1.356bn in their wealth in the past year takes their wealth to a staggering £22bn. Robert Watts, Compiler of The Sunday Times Rich List, said: “The rise in the number of Asian entrepreneurs is one of the striking themes of the Sunday Times Rich List since our first edition in 1989. Back then only five entrants in our inaugural list were from ethnic backgrounds — this year 81 Asian individuals and families make our 1,000 entries. We are finding Asian men and women have built successful businesses, from fast fashion and discount retail to pharmaceuticals and petrol stations.”

Overall, the 20 richest Asians are worth £94.864bn this year, a rise of £12.101bn from £82.763bn in 2018. The 14.6% increase in net worth is one of the biggest increases in wealth across any Rich List category this year.

The full list of richest Asian includes in order: Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family, £22bn; David and Simon Reuben, £18.664bn; Lakshmi Mittal and family, £10.669bn; Anil Agarwal, £10.57bn; Sri Prakash Lohia, £5.402bn; Sir Anwar Pervez and family, £3.534bn; Samuel Tak Lee and family, £3.005bn; Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora, £2.26bn; Bavaguthu Shetty, £2.083bn; Lord Paul and family, £2bn; Sunil Vaswani and family, £1.969bn; Zameer Choudrey and family, £1.755bn; Navin and Varsha Engineer, £1.7bn; Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, £1.689bn; Farhad Moshiri, £1.575bn; Raj, Tony and Harpal Matharu and family, £1.321bn; Mohsin and Zuber Issa, £1.2bn; Nadhmi Auchi, £1.176bn; Mahmud Kamani and family, £1.163bn; Surinder Arora and family, £1.129bn, £780m; Jasminder Singh and family, £1.1bn; Christina Ong and family, £1.05bn; Bhikhu and Vijay Patel, £800m; The Jatania brothers, £643m; Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan, £640m; Younus Sheikh and family, £609m; Tony Fernandes, £587m; Abdul Bhatti and family, £540m; Adalat and Arshad Chaudhary, £540m; Amit and Meeta Patel, £450m; and at least two dozen more.