Pharma again features in Sunday Times Rich List 2016
Former owner of Serono tops the pharma entries at number five
The Sunday Times has recently published its annual list of the richest people in the UK, with the pharma sector well represented again in 2016. At number 5 with a joint worth of £9.78bn – and the only entry in the top 10 – are Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli. He took over his family owned biotech company Serono in 1996 and sold it to Merck 10 years later.
It's all the way down to number 75 for the next pharma-related entry: Lady Balleyedmond who now leads the $1bn family-owned Norbrook Laboratories. And just outside the top 100 are Navin and Varsha Engineer, who own and run Surrey-based Chemidex, a company estimated to be worth £1bn, according to the Sunday Times list.
Coming in at number 126 is Henri Beaufour who, with his sister Anne, owns a 58% stake in France's second largest pharma company, Ipsen. Some way behind, at number 159, are Dennis and Mireille Gillings. He has stepped down as chairman of Quintiles, which he founded in 1982. The Sunday Times says the couple have a £515m stake in the company and made £230m from recent share sales.
Not far behind, at number 175 in the list, are Bhikhu and Vijay Patel, who have been involved in a number of ventures in the pharma sector, including Waymade, spin-out company Amdipharm, the enlarged company AMCo, which was sold last year, and Marlborough Pharmaceuticals, which made a profit of £4.5m in 2014/15.
Scraping into the top 200 at number 194 are John Shaw and his wife Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. He founded and subsequently sold biotech firm Biocon, then bought it back in 1998. Together they have a 62% stake in the company worth £593m.
Tony Tabatznik and family occupy position 228 with a combined total worth of £500bn. He sold Arrow Generics for US$1.75bn in 2009, having previously made £200m from the sale of his family's company Generics (UK). Amit Patel and his sister Meeta are at number 255, having sold their company Auden McKenzie to Actavis last year.
And finally at number 350 is Bruce Craig, who made £300m from his stake in Marken when it was sold in 2009.
