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Racehorse owner breeders Kirsten Rausing and Bill Gredley feature in Sunday Times list of East Anglia's wealthiest residents




Kirsten Rausing whose fortune has swelled by £1.408 billion to more than £12 billion
Kirsten Rausing whose fortune has swelled by £1.408 billion to more than £12 billion

Newmarket-based racehorse owner and breeder, Kirsten Rausing, is the richest person in East Anglia, according to the latest edition of The Sunday Times Rich List, set to be published this Sunday.

The Swedish-born philanthropist has a fortune of £12.256 billion, up £1.408 billion on last year. Her wealth comes from packaging. Ruben Rausing, Kirsten’s grandfather, founded the Tetra Pak packaging giant in 1951, which became Tetra Laval under the guidance of his sons, Gad,Kirsten’s father, and Hans Rausing.

Today Kirsten and her two siblings hold all the shares in the organisation. Kirsten is valued in the list with brother Jorn, 59, who invested £26.5m in online grocer Ocado, an investment now worth £866m.

She bought the 267-acre Lanwades Stud at Moulton in 1980 and two years later bought a nearby farm which was developed into the 300-acre St Simon Stud. She also owns the 450-acre Staffordstown Stud in Co Meath in Ireland. Among the host of winners bred or raised by the studs is dual Champion Stakes-winning mare Alborada, after whom she has named one of her charitable trusts.

Last year, through that trust, Dr Rausing pledged £5 million to Alzheimer’s Research UK to support five years of pioneering research. The pledge followed on from the trust’s previous support of the Alzheimer’s Research UK Stem Cell Research Centre at the University of Cambridge.

Bill Gredley and his son Tim, pictured with their Ascot Gold Cup winner Big Orange are among the richest people in East Anglia
Bill Gredley and his son Tim, pictured with their Ascot Gold Cup winner Big Orange are among the richest people in East Anglia

In joint fifth on the list of East Anglia's wealthiest residents are Patricia and David Thompson, owners of Cheveley Park Stud, who are said to be worth £800 million, up £70 million on last year. Paul Day and his family, who run Turners transport haulage group are in 11th place with £325 million up £30 million and in 19th are Newmarket's self-styled Pensioners' Pal Bill Gredley, his son Tim, and daughter, Pollyanna Scott, and their family with a fortune of £241 million up £24 million on 2018.