Britain’s super rich,Mittal lose billions

Other significant losers include commodities trader Ivan Glasenberg,who lost 788 million pounds,as the share price of his company Glencore International plummeted 13.2 per cent,it said.

Glasenberg,whose worth now stands at 4.7 billion pounds,owns 15.8 per cent in the company.

Among others,owner of Sports Direct International and Newcastle Football Club Mike Ashley saw an erosion of 203.4 million pounds from his wealth to 885 million pounds,whilst easy vJet entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou lost 54 million pounds to 546.1 million pounds and Carphone warehouse founder Charles Dunstone lost 38.6 million pounds to 506.4 million pounds,the report added.

The erosion in the wealth of the richie-rich club of Britain was largely owing to the steep fall in the UK’s FTSE 100 index,which slumped to its worst week since the financial crisis as fears of a new global recession resurfaced,the daily said.

FTSE 100 lost more than 600 points in the past six days — the most punishing drop since the depths of the financial crisis three years ago,when it shed more than 1,000 points in a week,it said.

Meanwhile,the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were poised for their steepest weekly declines in three years.

Fears of a new global recession has wiped off more than $2.5 trillion (1.5 trillion pound) from the value of stock markets around the world.

Last night,Standard & Poor’s downgraded the US government’s ‘AAA’ sovereign credit rating – a development,which raises concerns that investors will lose confidence in the US economy.