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Wolves owner Steve Morgan leaps up Rich List as personal wealth tops £500m

Wolves owner Steve Morgan's fortune has soared by £90 million in the last year, it was revealed today.

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Mr Morgan's housebuilding firm Redrow has had a big boost from the Government's Help to Buy scheme, meaning that he is one of the biggest winners in this year's West Midlands Rich List, seeing his wealth increase to £510m from £420m last year. It means that he is now ranked as the eighth wealthiest West Midlander, up from 21st last year.

Lord Bamford, chairman of digger-maker JCB is number one in the list. His family's fortune is now reckoned to have topped £3.3 billion, capping an impressive personal year for the tycoon who was named as one of 14 new Conservative peers last August. Lord Paul's steel and engineering empire, the Caparo group, has enjoyed a bumper year, swelling his personal wealth from £850m to £2bn and moving him up from sixth to second in the annual list. Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner's fortune is estimated to have dropped, down from £1.1bn to £1bn, but it is still enough to see him move from fifth place to third this year.

A new entry in the list is 65-year-old Black Country rock musician Robert Plant, lead singer with Led Zeppelin. He is estimated to have a personal fortune of £82m, enough to make him the 38th wealthiest West Midlander. But he has some way to go to catch Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, whose wealth is estimated to be £100 million.

Former Wolves owner Sir Jack Hayward, who sold his beloved club for £10 to Mr Morgan in 2007, sees no change in his wealth. The 90-year-old is still reckoned to be worth £130m through his propery interests in the Bahamas – enough for number 24 in the list.

Another new entry is pop mogul and railway enthusiast Pete Waterman. The man who brought us Kylie and Jason shows no sign of slowing down at 67 and he is estimated to be worth £50m – making him the 47th wealthiest man in the West Midlands.

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