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Norway boasts more billionaires
Real estate news By Nina Berglund
20 Sep 2007, 11:19
A new ranking of Norway's richest individuals shows a net addition of 40 billionaires, and a 23 percent jump in their collective wealth. A booming, oil-fuelled economy has helped make the rich richer in Norway. The average net worth of the country's 400 wealthiest people now amounts to more than NOK 1.8 billion (about USD 322 million), according to magazine Kapital, which compiles the annual list.
The number of billionaires is measured in terms of Norwegian crowns (kroner), but with the strong crown trading at just NOK 5.58 to one US dollar, the net worth of Norwegians has increased dramatically in terms of dollars as well. Among the new Norwegian billionaires is Yuhong Jin Hermansen, the 39-year-old widow of Stavanger businessman Folke Hermansen. He died of cancer last year, leaving her a fortune that now amounts to NOK 5.2 billion.
Other new billionaires include investor and lawyer Carl Eirik Krefting and investor Arne Hvidtsten both with NOK 9 billion. RIchest of them all Norwegian shipowner John Fredriksen, who lately has branched into the fish-farming and offshore industries, chose to turn in his Norwegian passport and take on citizenship in Cyprus after years of tax quarrels with Norwegian officials.
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