1. The Duke of Westminster

Duke still laughing despite a poor year

£6,500m

Grosvenor Group

2008: £7000m (-£500m)

Grosvenor Group, the property giant controlled by the Duke of Westminster, 57, posted its worst results for 16 years in 2008.

The group, which owns swathes of Mayfair, Belgravia and Knightsbridge, reported pretax losses of £593.9m last year, against profits of £524m in 2007. Write-downs of £536.7m included a hefty hit at its Liverpool One development.

The Paradise Street project had already suffered nearly £200m in write-downs, largely due to revaluations and cost over-runs in the previous three years.

But while chief executive Mark Preston admitted that "this is a challenging time for the property industry and inevitably Grosvenor has been affected", he felt that the impact of the current downturn "has been cushioned by our well-diversified portfolio, low gearing, and steps taken since 2007 to curb acquisitions and reduce our development exposure".

The group is now working on only three major projects under development - the residential element of Liverpool One and sites in Australia and Vancouver.

The group's net asset value fell in 2008 7.4% to £2.7bn. With the private estates outside the group added, we cut our overall valuation of Westminster to £6.5bn, down £500m on the year. He can console himself that he became a grandfather in May, when his daughter Lady Tamara Grosvenor produced a son.

Return to Estates Gazette Rich List 2009

Image from Rex Features