Joseph Lewis

A new, very exclusive golf resort is taking shape in the Bahamas as Joseph Lewis and his friends Tiger Woods and Ernie Els develop the Albany Golf & Beach Club. Lewis is also planning a 2,200 acre casino resort destination on Jamaica's northern coast in partnership with the government.

It's a far cry from Lewis's early roots in his family's restaurants in London and running his own tourist shops in European capitals. Lewis saw the huge potential from foreign exchange dealing and moved to the Bahamas in the 1970s. He remains an extremely active foreign exchange trader and has shrewdly invested his profits through The Tavistock Group, his key investment vehicle. It has interests in 100 companies in areas including property, financial services, life sciences, energy, industry and consumer goods. It also has significant holdings in Russian oil and gas positions.

Among Lewis's property holdings are 3,600 acres in the Bahamas and 8,000 acres in Florida. He also has a 50,000 acre ranch in Argentina. Lewis also backed Dr Mike Lynch's Autonomy Corporation in its early days, making a substantial return on his investment. His stake in auctioneer Christie's was sold to a French tycoon in 1998 for £200m.

Lewis is a leading if low-key donor to charities, channelling over $75m to spur the growth of a 'medical city' at a 6,900 acre master planned community at Lake Nona in Central Florida, which will open a new medical school, hospitals, and numerous biotech research institutions in 2009-11. The project is unusual in that Lewis has made his gift public to encourage further outside gifts.

With other assets such as stakes in Tottenham Hotspur and Glasgow Rangers football clubs, Lewis is easily worth £2.8bn.