Sunday Times Rich List Chimes with Gartmore Global Focus

The fastest growing fortune in The Sunday Times Rich List is the £19.25 billion of Lakshmi Mittal, the steel baron, whose Arcelor Mittal features among the holdings of the Gartmore Global Focus Fund. The past decade of Tony Blair’s Labour administration has been a golden age for the rich. When Blair came to power in 1997, Britain’s richest 1,000 had wealth of £98.99 billion. The £261 billion rise in the riches of today’s top 1,000 represents a 263% jump over the past 10 years.

The Gartmore Global Focus Fund and the Gartmore SICAV Global Focus Fund, both managed by Neil Rogan, seek to identify and allocate capital proactively across themes, as they progress through regions and sectors. The funds have identified that the rich are getting unashamedly richer, and this theme is reflected in their holdings. Notable among such holdings is Julius Baer, the Zurich-headquartered bank, which boosted its net profits for 2006 by 35%. Assets under management went up strongly by 19% to SFr361 billion at the end of 2006, with private banking and asset management contributing significantly to net new money.