Five on UK’s richest list are Jewish and South African

JORDAN MOSHE

They are: Nathan Kirsh; Manfred Gorvy and family; Sir Donald Gordon and family; Tony Tabatznik and family; and Vivian Imerman.

The list is based on identifiable wealth including land, property, assets such as art, and company shares. It does not, however, take into account any funds contained in people’s bank accounts.

The 1 000 entrants collectively possess a combined wealth of £771.13 billion (R14.2 trillion) which is in fact an increase on last year’s total of £724 billion (R13.3 trillion), according to BusinessTech.

Coming in the top 5% is South African-born Swazi businessman Nathan Kirsh. Born in Potchefstroom in 1932, Kirsh earned a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). After assisting with the operation of his father’s malt factory, in 1958 he launched his own venture in Swaziland by founding a corn milling and malt business.

Moving into wholesale supermarkets and commercial property, Kirsh founded cash and carry store Jetro in Brooklyn, New York, in 1976. He owns 75% of Jetro Holdings, which operates more than 100 stores and restaurant depots in America. He resides in Swaziland, and holds citizenship of the United States, South Africa, and Swaziland.

Manfred Gorvy and his family rank 155th on the list. Today a London-based investor, Gorvy was born in South Africa in 1938, where he attended Parktown Boys High School and later received a Bachelor of Commerce from Wits.

After qualifying as an accountant in 1961, he served as secretary of property management company Townsview Estates for a time, where he crossed paths with late community doyen Gerald Leissner, who started his career at the company. In 1974, Gorvy founded Hanover Acceptances, a property and financial investment company and remains its chairperson today.

His philanthropic acumen is equally impressive. His refurbishment of a lecture theatre at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London resulted in it being renamed the Lydia and Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre. Gorvy divides his time between London, where many of his businesses are based, and South Africa.

Coming in at number 230 is Sir Donald Gordon and family. An accountant by training, he was born in 1930, and founded life insurance company Liberty Life at 27. His savvy for numbers led him to build up two business empires, Liberty Life in South Africa, and United Kingdom property company Liberty International. The latter is one of the largest regional shopping centre companies in Europe.

In June 2005, he was awarded a knighthood in recognition of his services to the arts and business. He has also supported South Africa, helping to establish the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in 2000, as well as the Donald Gordon Medical Centre. He resides in London.

Toby Tabatznik made his mark on the pharmaceutical industry. His fortune was made by founding Arrow Generics in 2000, the successor to his family’s original pharmaceutical operation. Tabatznik sold the initial business to German giant Merck in the 1990s, and its successor to American-based Watson Pharmaceuticals in 2009.

He is passionate about social justice and is a philanthropist in causes to do with media, human rights law, and activism. In 2009, he founded the Bertha Foundation, which is geared towards creating more progressive and just societies and the battle for social change.

Vivian Imerman is the last South African on the list. He is considered the saviour of the American-based tinned-fruit company Del Monte. He made a fortune when he sold his share of the business. He repeated this success with Scottish whisky group Whyte & Mackay when he sold it in 2007.

Born in Johannesburg in 1955, Imerman’s grandfather was a Russian Jew who emigrated to South Africa after the Russian revolution. Although he did not complete his degree in business law, Imerman worked for his father’s chemical brokering business. He went on to found his own company by purchasing and reselling surplus chemicals.

He expanded the business into the distribution of branded pharmaceuticals, which was later listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1987. He then expanded into food distribution.

His business successes enabled him to purchase Del Monte International in 1993, the value of which he tripled. He sold his stake in the fruit company in 1999, and moved to London. After his success in the whisky trade, he continues as chairman and chief executive of Del Monte.

• The information in this article was taken from the Sunday Times, Bloomberg, SAentrepreneurs, BusinessTech, IMDB and the Telegraph.