Desmond tops Irish investor rich list

Dermot Desmond heads the list of Irish property investors with a personal fortune estimated at €1.7bn, according to trade magazine Estates Gazette’s rich list.

Sat, 10 Nov, 2012 - 00:00

John Walsh, Business Correspondent

Mr Desmond has substantial property interests, including in the past London City Airport, and currently has a substantial stake in the Belfast Titanic Quarter. Other interests include a stake in Celtic Football Club and the online betting firm Betdaq. He came 14th in the overall list.

London-based Estates Gazette compiles a rich list each year of the wealthiest UK and Ireland property developers and investors.

This year, the combined property-related wealth of the top 250 individuals exceeded the €100bn mark for the first time.

Second on the Irish rich list is Edward Haughey, owner of Norbrook Laboratories. Based in Newry, Mr Haughey, a former senator, has substantial property interests in Ireland and Britain. He is joint 19th in the overall list.

Edward Guinness, head of the Guinness brewing family, is also joint 19th on the list.

Stephen Vernon, whose company Green Property is behind the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, is 73rd in the overall list.

Co Wexford-based Bert Allen, head of Slaney Foods, is 77th on the overall list.

Other entrants include Belfast-based Sam Morrison, one of the North’s biggest developers, Joseph Brennan, head of Brennan Bakeries, and Kevin Lagan, who took over his father’s construction firm in 1960.

Dublin-based former plastics engineer Neil Taylor has built a massive German portfolio.

Newry-based Gerard O’Hare has substantial property interests in Ireland, Europe, and the US. Diljit Singh Rana, 14th on the list, moved from India to the North in 1963. Using compensation from the IRA bomb damage caused to his first business, he is now behind some of the biggest hotel complexes in north of the border.

Rich list: Top Irish names

1. Dermot Desmond: €1.741bn

2. Edward Haughey €1.065bn

3. Arthur Edward Rory Guinness: €1,065m

4. Stephen Vernon: €350m

5. Bert Allen: €333m

6. Sam Morrison: €265m

7. Joseph Brennan: €253m

8. Kevin Lagan: €225m

9. Neil Taylor: €236m

10. Gerard O’Hare: €188m

11. Frank Burke: €132m