• David Reuben
  • Simon Reuben
BornSimon – 1941 (age 82–83)
David – 1944 (age 79–80)
Bombay, British India
NationalityBritish
OccupationProperty investors
Known forProperty holdings
Board member ofReuben Brothers
Spouses
  • Simon – Joyce
  • David – Debra
Children
  • Simon – Lisa
  • David – David Jnr.; Jamie
Parents
  • David Sassoon Reuben (father)
  • Nancy Reuben (née Jiddah) (mother)

David Reuben (born 1941) and Simon Reuben (born 1944) are British businessmen. In 2023, they were named as the fourth richest family in the UK by the Sunday Times Rich List with a net worth of £24.4 billion.[1]

Early life and background

The brothers were born in Bombay, British India, the sons of David Sassoon Reuben and Nancy Reuben,[2] a Baghdadi Jewish family.[3] Their father went to Bombay from Iraq to secure work in the textile industry.[4] Following their parents' separation, the brothers moved to London in the 1950s with their mother, and due to the change in financial circumstances, the brothers attended state schools and lived in Islington, North London,[5] with Simon never completing his formal education.[6]

Careers

David joined a scrap metals business while Simon started out in carpets. Simon went on to buy out England's oldest carpet company from the receivers and made enough money from it to start investing in property, with early investments on Walton Street and the King's Road in Chelsea.[6] The brothers increased their wealth during the 1970s and 1980s in metals- and property trading.

Metals business

In the early 1990s, the brothers invested in the Russian metals market.[7] When Russian aluminum smelters were incapacitated by debt, Reuben's company Trans World entered into tolling arrangements with factories in which they paid for and delivered raw materials in return for finished aluminum, which it then sold for profit.[8] The company's investment in Russia was US$1.5 billion (£870 million), with global sales in 1995 above US$8 billion.[7] The brothers were involved with several members of the country's new oligarchy, including Roman Abramovich.[7] They settled a multimillion-pound legal dispute with Oleg Deripaska with a settlement being awarded to Reuben Brothers.

In 1997, Russia's Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov linked both the Cherney brothers and Reuben brothers to the Izmaylovskaya mafia led by Anton Malevsky in Israel. In March 1998, Boris Yeltsin replaced Kulikov as minister.[8]

In 2008, the Reuben brothers returned to the commodity business, expanding their mining interests with a portfolio of mines in Morocco, Indonesia, and South Africa.[6]

Present activities

Reuben Brothers

By 2000, the brothers sold all their Russian assets[7] as they focused their business activities mainly in the UK property market. They have been involved in financing a number of acquisitions and have investments in technology companies. As of 2016, their business activities mainly involved real estate, both in the UK and abroad, venture capital, and private equity.

Real estate

UK properties owned by the Reuben Brothers include: Millbank Tower; the John Lewis Partnership headquarters in Victoria; the American Express offices also in Victoria; Carlton House SW1; Academy House on Sackville Street; Connaught House on Berkeley Square; Market Towers; the London Primark store on Oxford Street; Sloane Street shops; and Cambridge House, the former premises of the Naval and Military Club,[6] which comprises six freehold buildings which have a planning consent for a six-star hotel and private members' club.

Other investments and developments include Merchant Square, a 1,800,000 sq ft (170,000 m2) development scheme of offices and flats, in the Paddington area of London; Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts, a 50/50 joint venture in a new apart-hotel under the 'art'otel' brand in Hoxton, City of London; Hampton House, demolition and redevelopment of the 1960s office block opposite Tate Britain that was designed by Foster & Partners and features a mix of apartments and an apart-hotel on the River Thames next to the Park Plaza London Riverbank hotel; airports at London Oxford and London Heliport.[6] In 2006, the Reuben Brothers formed a partnership that injected private equity into the FTSE-listed McCarthy & Stone, a retirement home construction company, exiting from that investment in 2013.[9]

Aldergate Investments

The Reuben Brothers invested in luxury leisure group Belmond Ltd in 2007, and sold their share in 2019 for £233 million.[10] Other holdings include Travelodge Hotels; D2 Jeans and Blue Inc clothing retailers, with retailer Sir Stuart Rose; Luup and Metro Bank; The Wellington Pub Company, the largest free-of-tie pub estate in the UK with approximately 850 tenanted pubs; Global Switch, the carrier data centre provider in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region; and a joint venture with British Marine, that in 2014 had eight vessels with plans to double the fleet size.[6]

Sport

Takeover of Newcastle United

On 14 April 2020, it emerged that a deal to transfer ownership of Newcastle United Football Club had been agreed between incumbent owner Mike Ashley and a prospective buying consortium consisting of Reuben Brothers, Amanda Staveley's PCP Capital Partners, and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.[11] The Premier League initially refused to ratify the deal, and Mike Ashley engaged in legal proceedings against the Premier League in order to complete the takeover.[12][13] On 7 October 2021, the Premier League approved the buy-out, stating that it has "received legally binding guarantees that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control the Newcastle United club".[14] The buy-out deal involved the Saudi Public Investment Fund taking up 80% of Newcastle United shares, while the Reuben Brothers and PCP Capital Partners each took 10% of the remaining shares.[15]

Arena Racing Company

Arena Racing Company, also called ARC Racing and Leisure Group is a UK private company, created in 2012 by the merger of Arena Leisure and Northern Racing.[16] It owns and operates 16 racecourses in Great Britain, accounting for 39% of British racing fixtures.[17] It operates hotels at Doncaster Racecourse, Wolverhampton Racecourse and Lingfield Park Racecourse, and golf courses at Lingfield, Southwell and Newcastle.[17]

Controversial statement by London mayor

In 2006 Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London at the time, used a press conference to accuse Simon and David Reuben of jeopardising the £4 billion Olympic City development, in which the Reuben brothers held a 50% stake. Livingstone controversially told the media conference, referring to the Reuben brothers, that "If they're not happy here, they can go back to Iran and try their luck with the ayatollahs, if they don't like the planning regime or my approach." Conservative members of the London Assembly stated the brothers were not Iranian, but had been born in British India of Iraqi-Jewish parents.[18] After a public complaint and a subsequent official investigation into Livingstone's comments, the investigating officer dismissed the complaint and concluded that Livingstone had reason to be strongly critical of the Reuben brothers' conduct, and that his criticism, whilst "robust," was "reasonable" in the circumstances.[19]

The Reuben Foundation

The family's philanthropic vehicle, the Reuben Foundation, is focused on the advancement of healthcare and education.[20]

The family founded the Nancy Reuben Primary School, an independent Jewish day school in Hendon in honour of their mother.[21]

The foundation has donated £80 million to support the creation of Reuben College, Oxford, originally named Parks College. It is a post-graduate college focused on climate change, artificial intelligence and cellular life.[22]

Personal life

According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2023, David and Simon Reuben and their combined family had an estimated net worth of £24.4 billion. This made them Britain's fourth wealthiest family.[1]

The Times has reported that the brothers' businesses make extensive use of offshore tax havens. A spokesperson said that their businesses "fully comply with UK tax laws".[23]

The brothers are donors to the Conservative Party.[23]

Wealth rankings

Year Sunday Times
Rich List		 Forbes
The World's Billionaires
Rank Net worth
(£) bn		 Rank Net worth
(US$) bn
2006[24] 8 £3.25 Increase 185 Decrease $3.60 Decrease
2007[25] 8 Steady £3.49 Increase 177 Steady $4.50 Increase
2008[26][27] 10 Decrease £4.30 Increase 178 Decrease $5.50 Increase
2009[28][29] 9 Increase £2.50 Decrease 98 Increase $5.00 Decrease
2010[30][31] 5 Increase £5.53 Increase 93 Increase $7.50 Increase
2011[32] 8 Decrease £6.18 Increase 114 Decrease $8.00 Increase
2012[33] 8 Steady £7.08 Increase 100 Increase $9.00 Increase
2013[34] 7 Increase £8.28 Increase 103 Decrease $10.50 Increase
2014[35] 7 Steady £9.00 Increase 95 Increase $11.50 Increase
2015<[36][37] 5 Decrease £9.70 Increase 80 Increase $13.70 Increase
2016[20] 1 Increase £13.10 Increase 60 Increase $14.40 Increase
2017[20] 3 Decrease £14 Increase 65 Decrease $15.3 Increase
Legend
Icon Description
Steady Has not changed from the previous year's list
Increase Has increased from the previous year's list
Decrease Has decreased from the previous year's list

References

  1. 1 2 "The Sunday Times Rich list 2023". The Sunday Times. 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  2. ↑ "Nancy Reuben Primary School". Reuben Foundation. 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  3. ↑ "Mayfair's First Family". Tatler. reproduced in the Reuben Brothers website. October 2013.
  4. ↑ "Reuben brothers: The super-rich, Mumbai-born entrepreneurs you probably haven't heard of". Moneycontrol. 6 February 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  5. ↑ "Inside The Reuben Brothers' Aviation Empire! | International Aviation HQ". 21 May 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lunn, Emma (12 March 2014). "How Britain's richest brothers made billions from nothing". Yahoo! Finance. Archived from the original on 15 March 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Robinson, James (27 June 2004). "Pack up your roubles ..." The Guardian. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  8. 1 2 Behar, Richard (12 June 2000). "Capitalism in a cold climate". Fortune. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2021. The story of Trans World's aluminum empire is filled with bribes, shell companies, profiteers, and more than a few corpses. Then again, in today's Russia, that's pretty much par for the course.
  9. ↑ "New McCarthy & Stone boss wields the axe". Construction Index. 6 March 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  10. ↑ Hodgson, Joanna (16 January 2019). "Payday for Reuben brothers after selling out of Belmond". Evening Standard. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  11. ↑ "Newcastle United takeover deal worth £300m close". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  12. ↑ "Newcastle hire lawyers in dispute with Premier League over failed Saudi-led takeover". Sky Sports. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  13. ↑ "Newcastle take Premier League to competition tribunal over takeover collapse". BT Sport. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  14. ↑ "English Premier League approves Saudi buyout of Newcastle United". Euronews. 8 October 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  15. ↑ "PIF, PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media acquire Newcastle United Football Club". Newcastle United. 7 October 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  16. ↑ Brooks, Charlie (25 November 2012). "The shadow behind the British Horseracing Authority's good news on prize money". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  17. 1 2 "Arena Leisure Company". Arena Leisure Company. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  18. ↑ "Mayor in fresh Jewish controversy". BBC News. 21 March 2006. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  19. ↑ "Livingstone cleared of anti-semitism". The Guardian. United Kingdom. Press Association. 20 June 2006. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  20. 1 2 3 "#60 David & Simon Reuben". Forbes. October 2010.
  21. ↑ "Who is Nancy Reuben?". Nancy Reuben Primary School.
  22. ↑ Sean Coughlan (11 June 2020). "Don't hide history, says Oxford head in statue row". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  23. 1 2 "India-born Reuben brothers in UK's new Tax Haven Elite list". Economic Times. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  24. ↑ "#185 David & Simon Reuben". Forbes. 2006. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  25. ↑ "#177 David & Simon Reuben". Forbes. 8 March 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  26. ↑ Beresford, Philip, ed. (27 April 2008). "Rich List reveals wealthy reap profits under Labour". The Sunday Times.
  27. ↑ "#178 David & Simon Reuben". Forbes. 5 March 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  28. ↑ Beresford, Philip, ed. (26 April 2009). "Sunday Times Rich List: Bonfire of the billionaires wipes out £155bn fortune". The Sunday Times.
  29. ↑ "#98 David & Simon Reuben". Forbes. 11 March 2009. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  30. ↑ "The Sunday Times Rich List 2010: Rising from the rubble". The Sunday Times. 25 April 2010.
  31. ↑ "#93 David & Simon Reuben". Forbes. 10 March 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  32. ↑ "Forbes Rich List: The UK and world's wealthiest people revealed". SWNS.com. 10 March 2011. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  33. ↑ Prince, Rosa (7 March 2012). "Forbes list: JK Rowling fortune under vanishing spell". The Telegraph. United Kingdom. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  34. ↑ McRae, Hamish (6 March 2013). "Forbes' billionaire list shows that, in global terms, Britain rich folk are little more than also-rans". The Independent. United Kingdom. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  35. ↑ "The 20 Richest Real Estate Tycoons on the Forbes Billionaires List". The MP Report. 26 March 2014. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  36. ↑ "Richest Double wealth". The Guardian. London. 26 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  37. ↑ Peterson-Withorn, Chase (2 March 2015). "Forbes Billionaires: Full List Of The 500 Richest People In The World 2015". Forbes. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
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