Billionaires Lead Phuket’s Top 5 Rich and Famous Villa List

PHUKET: Thailand’s resort island of Phuket is fast becoming the place for the rich and famous in search of tropical island living coupled with great investment. According to the recently-launched Phuket Insider blog, two of Forbes magazine’s leading billionaires have uber-luxury villas in Phuket.

Phuket’s “Top 5” are reported as:

1. New Zealand’s wealthiest brothers, Richard and Christopher Chandler (one brother formerly CEO of the Sovereign Group), with a fortune valued at over US$2 billion according to Forbes.

2. Canadian Robert Friedland of Ivanhoe Energy and Mines, with Forbes reporting a net worth of US$1.4 billion.

3. Hong Kong’s Allan Zeman, who is regarded as ‘The Father of Lan Kwai Fong”. While his personal worth remains undisclosed, he is highly ranked amongst Asia’s most wealthy and influential businessmen.

4. Finnish Formula One star Kimi Raikkonen, the latest addition, earning a reported US$44 million per year and ranked by Forbes as the 5th highest-paid sports star and the 26th highest-paid celebrity.

5. British Binatone founder Gulu Lalvani, with his globe-trotting celebrity and multi-million dollar personal fortune.

The Phuket Insider blog, “The Source for All Hotel & Real Estate News”, was launched earlier this week by Bill Barnett, the well known property columnist, hospitality consultant and managing director of Phuket-based C9 Hotelworks.

“Our passion is to provide independent and intelligent news and commentary on the rapidly developing Greater Phuket storyline. You won’t find banner ads, hotel bargains, condos for sale or Google AdWords on the site. It is purely relevant information as it happens without the mass commercialization,” Barnett says.