World’s richest booze billionaires

The drinks industry is home to a number of billionaires with wealth that most could only dream of. Here we count down the world’s top 12 richest drinks savvy billionaires.

Every year Forbes publishes its rich list, which invariably includes the likes of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Facebook entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg, whose members together boast a staggering aggregate wealth of $6.4 trillion.

But which drinks trade professionals are mixing with the best of the billionaires?

While a number of billionaires with interests in the wine and spirits industry make a brief appearance in the top 12, it is those from the world of beer which dominate.

As collated by Forbes, here are the world’s top 12 richest drinks industry professionals.

Scroll through to see who makes the cut…

12. Jean Pierre Cayard, France

Jean Pierre Cayard is the owner of La Martiniquiase, the second largest French drinks company after Pernod Ricard. Founded in 1936, its brands include rum La Martinique, Porto Cruz and Poliakov, France’s top selling vodka.

Worth: $3.3bn

Forbes rich list: #483

11. Lorenzo Mendoza & family, Venezuela

Lorenzo Mendoza is the CEO of Empresas Polar, the largest food and beverage company in Venezuela. The conglomerate comprises 40 different company’s with some 30,000 employees and manages a vast portfolio of food and drink products including Polar Beer – the country’s most popular brew.

Worth: $3.5bn

Forbes rich list: #446

10. Rosa Anna Magno Garavoglia & family, Italy

The notoriously media shy Rosa Anna Magno Garavoglia is behind the global drinks company Gruppo Campari, responsible for the classic Negroni cocktail. Garavoglia, along with son Luca and daughter Alessandra, controls the publicly traded beverage company, the shares of which she inherited after the death of her husband, Domenico.

Its brands including Skyy vodka, Wild Turkey whisky, and the aperitif Aperol. In 2000, Maddalena Garavoglia, sister of Luca and Alessandra, sued her family for allegedly being pushed out of the company. The case was settled for $100 million in 2006.

Worth: $3.5bn

Forbes rich list: #446

9. Walter Faria, Brazil

In 1998 Walter Faria bought Grupo Petropolis which went on to become one of Brazil’s largest beer and beverage companies. Petropolis’ Itaipava beer is the country’s second biggest seller after Skol, made by Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Prior to Grupo Petropolis, Faria worked as a distributor for Schincariol, a Brazilian brewer bought by Japan’s Kirin Holdings in 2012.

Worth: $3.8bn

Forbes rich list: #396

8. Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala & family, Mexico

María Asunción Aramburuzabala is the CEO and President of Tresalia Capital and vice-chairman of Grupo Modelo, which makes beers including Corona and Negra Modelo, having inherited a stake in the company after death of her father, Paul Aramburuzabala Ocaranza, in 1995.

She is the granddaughter of Félix Aramburuzabala, who co-founded the Mexican brewery Grupo Modelo with his friend and partner don Pablo Díez Fernández, and is Mexico’s second wealthiest women.

Worth: $5.2bn

Forbes rich list: #270

7. Pierre Castel & family, France

Pierre Castel runs Groupe Castel, a French drinks company which he founded in 1949 alongside his eight siblings. As well as owning or co-owning 22 vineyards in France, the group was also quick to make moves on the African beer market where it holds a 25% share of the market. In 1990 it bought the African Brasseries et Glacières Internationales and has since built 45 breweries in Africa.

It also has 1,600 acres of vineyards in Africa and estates in Morocco, Tunisia and Ethiopia. Its two main beer brands are Flag and Castel.

Worth: $8bn

Forbes rich list: #166

6. Carlos Alberto Sicupira, Brazil

Carlos Alberto Sicupira, together with Jorge Paulo Lemann and Marcel Herrmann Telles, owns the Belgian-Brazilian drinks company Anheuser-Busch InBev.

InBev was formed in 2004 through the merger of Brazilian AmBev and Belgian Interbrew, which later bought the American beer maker Anheuser-Busch to form AB InBev to form the world’s largest brewer. It is responsible for more than 200 brands, including Budweiser, Corona, Beck’s and Brahma, and operates in 32 countries.

Worth: $8.9bn

Forbes rich list: #146

5. Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, Thailand

Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi is a property tycoon and drinks entrepreneur responsible for Chang beer.

Sirivadhanabhakdi teamed up with Carlsberg in 1991 as part of a joint venture to tap into Thailand’s growing beer market, which at the time was dominated by the Boon Rawd Brewery which made Singha beer. Three years later he launched his own beer Chang (Thai for ‘elephant’), which went on to take 60% of the local market share.

Worth: $9bn

Forbes rich list: #141

4. Marcel Herrmann Telles, Brazil

Marcel Hermann Telles is a part owner of the world’s largest brewer, AB InBev, alongside Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Jorge Paulo Lemann.

Together with Lemann and Sicupira, Telles also controls retailer Lojas Americanas and real estate investment firm São Carlos Empreendimentos e Participações SA, and has an MBA from Harvard University.

Worth: $10.2bn

Forbes rich list: #119

3. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, The Netherlands

The daughter of Freddy Heineken, the Dutch industrialist, and Lucille Cummins, an American from a Kentucky family of Bourbon whiskey distillers, Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken is the controlling owner of the world’s third-largest brewer, Heineken International, which owns a worldwide portfolio of over 170 beer brands.

Worth: $10.4bn

Forbes rich list: #113

2. Alejandro Santo Domingo Davila & family, Colombia

Alejandro Santo Domingo, Colombian American financier, owns a 15% stake in SABMiller, the world’s second-largest brewer responsible for brands such as Fosters, Grolsch, Miller Brewing Company, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell.

Worth: $11.1bn

Forbes rich list: #102

1. Jorge Paulo Lemann, Brazil

Jorge Paulo Lemann is a Swiss-Brazilian banker who owns a share of the world’s largest brewer AB InBev and is the 34th richest person in the world.

As well as his stake in the beverage industry, Lemann has numerous interests in the financial markets having co-founded the Brazilian investment banking firm Banco Garantia 1971 with Marcel Herrmann Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira. Lemann also once played at Wimbledon as a professional tennis player.

Worth: $19.7bn

Forbes rich list: #34

Bernard Arnault & family, France

And finally, the richest man in the world known to have vested interests in the drinks trade, Bernard Arnault, CEO of French luxury brands conglomerate LVMH.

Its 60-strong portfolio includes high-end brands including Dom Perignon, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, and Moët Hennessy.

Listed within Forbes’ fashion category, it is not clear how much of Arnault’s wealth can be attributed to interests within the drinks industry.

Worth: $33.5bn

Forbes rich list: 15