Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli

Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli

Rank: 5 Worth: £6,870m

Bertarelli just keeps on making money. His Ares Life Sciences investment fund backed the 2008 buyout of Euromedic, a medical services provider, for £670m. Early this year, it was reported that just one of Euromedic's divisions was for sale at £400m.

Bertarelli learnt about business from his father, who owned the Serono pharmaceutical company. Founded in Rome in 1906, it made its fortune from a fertility drug derived from the urine of post-menopausal women, specifically Italian nuns. By 31, after his father's death, Bertarelli was running the multinational group, which was sold to Merck of Germany in 2006 for $13.3billion. Bilan magazine, in its 2010 Swiss rich list, valued the Bertarelli fortune at £6.87 billion.

Bertarelli and Yachting

In 2000, Bertarelli founded the yachting syndicate Team Alinghi, which in 2003, representing the Société Nautique de Genève, won the Louis Vuitton Cup before beating Team New Zealand in Auckland to win the America's Cup. It was the first time a team had ever won the coveted sailing trophy on its first attempt, with the victory bringing the Cup to Europe for the first time.

Société Nautique de Genève and Bertarelli's efforts to organize the 33rd America's Cup following their 2007 victory in Alinghi were subject to numerous legal challenges by the Golden Gate Yacht Club. The race finally took place in February 2010, in Valencia, Spain. Bertarelli was the primary helmsman of his boat Alinghi 5, which lost both races against the challenger USA 17 by a considerable margin.

He makes the Rich List in company with his wife Kirsty, 39, a former Miss UK who tops our table of richest women. They were married in 2000 and Kirsty, who comes from Staffordshire, is heavily involved in the yachting operation.

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