East Anglia: Region’s wealthiest revealed in 2013 Rich List

Ipswich Town owner Marcus Evans Archant

A SOFTWARE pioneer, the owner of Ipswich Town FC and Britain’s second-biggest lottery jackpot winners are among the 20 richest people with ties to the region.

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The 10 richest people in East Anglia 1. Kirsten Rausing (Inheritance, investment) 12 £5,109m 2. The Earl of Iveagh and the Guinness family (Brewing, property) 102= £850m 3. Marcus Evans (Business Services) 143 £625m 4. Douw Steyn and family (Insurance) 158= £550m 5. Mike Lynch (Software) 192= £480m 6. David and Richard Thompson (Food, horseracing) 201 £460m 7. Ewan Kirk (Hedge fund) 294= £280m 8. Richard Higham (Oil, gas services) 305= £270m 9. Edward Atkin and family (Babycare products) 309 £267m 10. Gregory Darling (Marine services) 354= £225m

This weekend the Sunday Times Rich List will name the likes of Autonomy founder Mike Lynch, businessman and Town chief Marcus Evans, and Euromillions winners Adrian and Gillian Bayford as some of the 20 wealthiest people in the region.

Despite the challenging economic climate, not one of the top 20 has seen their fortune falter in the past 12 months, with the region’s richest - Newmarket-based heir to the Tetra Pack empire Kirsten Rausing - enjoying growth of £1.2billion.

Philip Beresford, a leading expert on British wealth, compiled the list and said that the eastern region represented a “microcosm of the British economy”.

He said: “East Anglia traditionally has been one of the more prosperous parts of the country in terms of the Rich List. The list is a microcosm of the British economy - foreign billionaires, the Cambridge high-tech centre, lottery winners, property and other industries.”

Many of the East Anglian rich list top 20 have connections with or live in Suffolk.

Kirsten Rausing, number one on the list, is the granddaughter of Ruben Rausing, the founder of the liquid food packaging company. She was born in Sweden but lives in the UK and has a stud farm at Newmarket where she spends much of her time.

The Earl of Iveagh is a member of the Guinness family and lives on the Elveden Estate near Thetford. His family’s wealth stands at £850m, the same as last year.

The third-ranked name and the 143rd richest man in Britain is Marcus Evans, the owner and chairman of Ipswich Town FC who is known for maintaining a low public profile.

In fourth place is Douw Steyn, the founder of Compare the Market who has seen his businesses boosted by the popular Compare the Meerkat advertising campaign.

The fifth place is held by Dr Lynch, co-founder and former chief executive Mike Lynch, who lives in Suffolk and established Autonomy in Cambridge.

He is currently being investigated by authorities in the UK and the US following allegations made by Hewlett Packard that the value of Autonomy was inflated prior to HP’s purchase of the company in 2011 for £6.7bn.

Dr Lynch and fellow former managers at Autonomy strongly deny the allegations.

One notable new entry on the regional Rich List, which does not include people living in Essex, is Adrian and Gillian Bayford from Haverhill, who won £148m from the Euromillions jackpot last August.

They celebrated their win, which made them the 14th richest people in the region, with a takeaway pizza and closed their music shop in January.