The Swiss business fortnightly Bilan again ranked Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of global furniture store chain Ikea, as the richest man in Switzerland with an estimated fortune of 25 to 26 billion Swiss francs (US$22 billion).

Buoyant stock, property and arts markets helped push the combined wealth of the 300 richest people in Switzerland up by 14 per cent compared to 2005, to reach some 455 billion Swiss francs.

That was just shy of the total GDP of Switzerland (455,6 billion Swiss francs in 2005), one of the world's wealthiest nations.

The second-placed Oeri and Hoffmann families, who own the Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche, ran up a personal fortune of up to 21 billion Swiss francs.

The ranking was marked by the arrival of Russian Viktor Vekselberg, whose group Sual merged with Rusal and the aluminium assets of Swiss commodities trader Glencore in October to form the world's largest aluminium group.

Vekselberg, who resident in Zurich, has a fortune valued at up to 15 billion Swiss francs.

Other key figures in the top ten are the former owner of the Swiss biotechnology group Serono and America's Cup yachtsman Ernesto Bertarelli , the Dutch founders of the C and A retail chain, the Brenninkmeijer family, and the Greek Latsis banking and shipping dynasty.

Switzerland's most wealthy also include Liechtenstein's royal family, Formula One motor racing supremo Bernie Ecclestone, retired ex-F1 world champion Michael Schumacher and Bahaa al-Hariri, the eldest son of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005.

The Swiss ranking includes 118 billionaires in local currency.

By contrast the richest man in the world, Bill Gates, has a fortune equivalent to 60 billion Swiss francs, according to Forbes magazine's annual ranking, which placed Kamprad number four.

Nampa-AFP

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