Lakshmi Mittal

Steel Billionaire Lakshmi Mittal Plans Green Mega Estate

Steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal is going green. He's already hard at work on the most expensive estate in Scotland but he's also turning a country estate in southeastern England into a new green palace. The home, Alderbrook Park was built as a country estate during the 19th century but that home was partially demolished and replaced with a less attractive one in the 1950s.

Now Mittal, one of the world's ten richest men, plans to create the ultimate green estate. Plans including using outdoor temperature differences to create natural air conditioning and an ambitious idea to grow enough wood to feed large boilers to provide heating and hot water. Workers at the home will cut down 110 tons of wood a year for the boilers but plant trees to replace them. Solar panels on the roofs of two outbuildings will also provide electricity. Steel tubes will draw cool air from the estate's wooded areas in the summer and in the winter, solar-heated air will be drawn down from the roofs to add additional warmth.

Mittal bought the home for a reported £5.25 million but is expected to spend another £25 million making it conform to his customizations. He will need approval from the local planning authority to develop the estate. The only issue, according to The Telegraph India, may be the preservation of badger habitats on the estate. The badgers are protected and Mittal will need to prove they will not be harmed. The home will have at least 10 bedrooms, indoor and outdoor pools, and underground art gallery, tennis courts and a croquet lawn.

Tags: alderbrook park, england, Lakshmi Mittal

Europe's Richest Man Building Scotland's Most Expensive Mansion

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Wealth

Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal is building the most expensive mansion ever erected in Scotland, next to the famed Gleneagles golf resort in Auchterarder, Perthshire. The London-based tycoon, Europe's richest man and the fifth richest man in the world with a fortune of $28.7 billion, is spending a record $23 million on the posh estate, including the $6 million mansion he tore down to make way for his new luxury fortress. His lavish private palace in London is reckoned to be the city's most expensive as well. Costs on the Perthshire project soared after Mittal decided some of the finished weren't up to standard, Scotland's Daily Record reports.

At one point he demanded a $125,000 bathroom be torn out and done over. "We are all very aware that Lakshmi Mittal has bought the property and he has been very particular about the specifications," one neighbor told the paper. "He has flown in several times and I have spoken to his wife, who seemed very down to earth. I get the impression she is more likely to use the facilities up here than her husband. I think their priority is getting it perfect." The six-bedroom main residence will have furnishings by Ralph Lauren, a state-of-the-art entertainment system, two kitchens and staff quarters among other amenities.

Tags: billionaire, estates, Europe, Gleneagles, India, Lakshmi Mittal, London, mansion, Perthshire, real estate, Scotland, UK, wealth, worlds most expensive

Britain's Richest People A Bit Poorer This Year

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

The Sunday Times Rich List cataloging Britain's richest people, reveals what we've seen on many other lists: people losing money. The Times says that the recession has carved £155 billion from the fortunes of Britain's richest 1,000 people, fully a third of their total wealth. In fact it's the biggest drop since they started putting the list together 21 years ago. And it now only takes a fortune of £55 million to hit the top 1,000 compared to £80 million list year.

Steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal has the dubious honor of being both the richest person in Britain and the person who lost the most (an astonishing £16.9 billion). He is currently worth £10.8 billion easily beating out Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich who owns the second slot with £7 billion. The Duke of Westminster is in third place with £6.5 billion.

Richard Branson isn't worth as much as you might think, the Times has him at just £1.2billion. Last year's rising art markets boosted Damien Hirst's value to £235million and Lucien Freud is worth £120million. And proving that divorcing well can be as much a moneymaker as marrying well, former model Slavica Ecclestone enters the list with a fortune of £734 million after her divorce from Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone.

This year's list is also short one celebrity chef. Gordon Ramsay is off the list after a year that has seen him selling restaurants and watching his flagship London restaurant tumble out of the list of the world's 100 best restaurants.

Source

Tags: lakshmi mittal, LakshmiMittal, richest, roman abramovich, RomanAbramovich

World's 4th Richest Man Loses $28 Billion

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, 58, the richest man in Europe and the 4th richest man in the world, can now be known as the world's biggest loser after his net worth plummeted by a whopping $28 billion over the last four months due to the global financial crisis. Mittal, a London resident who paid a record $200 million for a Georgian mansion in Kensington Palace Gardens earlier this year, still has $17 billion left, the London Times reports. We don't yet know how Mittal's stunning loss - which equates to $240 million / day or nearly $10 million per hour - re-positions him on the world's rich list as several other plutocrats have also suffered reversals, but it's safe to say he'll end up much further down unless the stock market recovers soon.

Tags: Billionaires, Lakshmi Mittal, LakshmiMittal, London

The World's Biggest Billion-Heiresses To Be

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

Forbes has come up with a new list of the 10 young women most likely to inherit their mega-rich fathers' fortunes - in short, the billion-heiresses of tomorrow. The final list does not merely represent the daughters of the world's richest men, however; for a true accounting, the magazine started with the daughters of the world's 150 richest people, all worth $6.4 billion or more, but then focused only on those with few or no siblings to divide the loot.

They further narrowed the field by disqualifying those with fathers like Bill Gates who have declared their intention to leave their fortunes to charity instead of their children. Also, they did not include those who have already inherited their money, like the world's richest woman, L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

No. 1 on the Forbes list is India's Vanisha Mittal Bhatia, daughter of Lakshmi Mittal, the fourth-richest person in the world with a fortune of $45 billion. The No. 2 and 3 heiresses are also the daughters of Indian tycoons, while No. 4 is Delphine Arnault-Gancia, daughter of LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault, the world's 13th-richest man with a fortune of $25.5 billion. And clocking in at No. 7 is championship equestrienne Georgina Bloomberg (above), daughter of New York's billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg. See the gallery for more.

Gallery: World's Biggest Heiresses