Owning a fashion empire that has given him a staggering wealth of £10billion, the richest man in Scotland isn’t even a Scot.
You may think Scotland’s richest man would be the heir to a whiskey distillery or perhaps involved in the North Sea oil trade, but it is in fact a Dane who made his way over the sea to earn his billions. Anders Holch Povlsen is best known as the owner of fashion retailer Bestseller, owner of brands such as Jack & Jones, Lil’ Atelier and Only & Sons.
His wealth also takes a huge boost by having the largest individual stake in ASOS, and part ownership of online grocery store Nemlig and payments company Klarna. He also owns a 10 per cent stake in the German online retailer Zalando further, cementing himself in the online fashion world.
This means he his five times richer than business magnate Sir Richard Branson (worth £2bn) and eight times wealthier than The Apprentice star Sir Alan Sugar.
Originally from Aarhus, the 52-year-old took a liking for Scotland and bought up land wherever he can, now owning 12 Highlands estates spanning 220,000 acres including the 42,000-acre Glenfeshie estate in the Cairngorms – totalling one per cent of all land in Scotland.
Purchased through his company Wildland, he and his wife describe the business as a “project that we know cannot be realised in our lifetime, which will bear fruit not just for our own children, but also for the generations of visitors who, like us, hold a deep affection for the Scottish Highlands”.
Povlsen is currently ranked as the 191st richest person in the world, a stark change from his somewhat humble beginnings after having taken on his family’s shop in the small Danish town of Ringkobing aged 28. Povlsen lost three of his four children and was himself injured in the Sri Lankan Easter bombings terrorist attack in 2019. The bombings killed 269 people and injured at least 500.
His wealth is significantly more than anyone else in Scotland with the nation’s second richest person Glen Gordon and his family coming in at a reported £3.4bn. The family made their money in spirits owning William Grand & Sins whiskey makers.