A PAIR of billionaire brothers have seen their fortunes soar again despite splashing out on a super yachts, a private jet and an exclusive nightclub.
Simon and David Reuben‘s combined wealth has leapt by £2.134billion to £24.399billion over the past year, according to the new Sunday Times Rich List.
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That puts them fourth in the table, behind only Gopi Hinduja and family, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Leonard Blavatnik.
The Indian-born siblings first made their money in the global metals industry and have gone on to pour the proceeds into property.
They have also played a part in the £300m Saudi takeover of Newcastle United which has helped propel the Premier League club up the table and possible qualification for next season’s Uefa Champions League.
After being born in Bombay – Simon in 1941 and David three years later – they moved to England with their mother in the 1950s, setting up home in Islington, north London.
Both left education when they were 17, David worked in scrap metal and began trading, while Simon started out in carpets, before buying England’s oldest carpet company from the receivers.
They did well enough to start investing in property, making early investments on Walton Street and the King’s Road in Chelsea.
The brothers jointly launched Trans-World Metals, specialising in aluminium and tin out of London and copper and tin out of New York – becoming the world’s third largest aluminium producer by 1996.
But in 2000 they sold most of their aluminium holdings to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, three years before he bought Premier League football club Chelsea.
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The Reubens themselves formed part of the consortium buying Newcastle, alongside the Saudi Public Investment Fund and PCP Capital Partners.
The Saudi-dominated takeover has been criticised as “sportswashing” by human rights group Amnesty International.
The Reuben brothers themselves grew up as Chelsea fans.
Their London property empire includes Connaught House on Berkeley Square, the John Lewis HQ in Victoria, Burlington Arcade, 100 Pall Mall, Clareville House and several stores in pricey Sloane Square.
Their own private homes include properties in Monaco, while Simon has an apartment in Knightsbridge in west London and David has one not far away in Holland Park.
They also own a 241ft-long, £54million private yacht called Siren.
It boasts six cabins, a master suite and a VIP stateroom, with space for up to 12 guests and 18 cabin crew on hand.
They have also splashed out on a £19m private jet – an Embraer 135BJ Legacy 650 that can fly up to 14 passengers, with a top speed of 518mph and a maximum range of 3,740 miles.
And they own a nightclub in the exclusive Italian island of Capri which has attracted celebrity guests including Beyonce, George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez – while their close friends include actress Dame Joan Collins.
Along with that club, La Taverna Anema e Core, they have also swooped to own hotels in Ibiza, the Greek island of Mykonos and the United States.
And in 2017 they won planning permission to turn a former Piccadilly private members’ club into a five-star hotel, after spending £130million on Grade I-listed Cambridge House six years earlier.
The site used to be the infamous In and Out Club with members including Lawrence of Arabia, James Bond author Ian Fleming and Rudyard Kipling.
It was also formerly the home of Victorian prime minister Lord Palmerston.
David’s son Jamie, managing partner of investment firm Melbury Capital, sits on the board of Championship club Queens Park Rangers.
David’s other son David Jr married Colombian actress Carolina Guerra at the Burning Man festival in the American state of Nevada in 2019.
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