Manchester United’s new potential owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, was in second place in the Sunday Times Rich List 2023.
The Mancunian, who amassed the bulk of £29.6bn personal wealth from his chemicals company Ineos, gained 25 places from last year.
He sits just behind Gopi Hinduja, of conglomerate Hinduja Group, with a wealth of £35bn.
In the year to December end 2022, Ineos made an operating profit of €2bn, with revenues of €20.9bn.
Ratcliffe and Ineos have both made the back pages in recent months as the Manchester United sale draws closer to a conclusion.
Latest reports suggested Ratcliffe was the Glazer family’s preferred bidder with a partial takeover, believed to be around 50%.
The tycoon, according to Sky News, is however proposing a full buyout after three years, with his bid including put and call arrangements which would become exercisable in 2026 and require the Glazers to sell and Ratcliffe to buy.
His bid may have been thwarted by a dramtic last-ditch attempt from competitor Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani.
The Guardian reported that the Qatari billionaire upped his offer by £500mln to £5.5bn in a ‘Fergie time’ bid, although it is believed this is still shy of the £6bn the Glazers initially wanted.