Indian-born, London-based global industrialist Lakshmi Mittal is Britain's all-time richest person after topping this year's Sunday Times Rich List.

Mittal Steel chief executive officer Lakshmi Mittal answers interviews as he leaves the office of Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, April 19 in Brussels. [AFP]

Mittal, 55, who is spearheading an audacious bid to take over the European steel group Arcelor, has amassed a fortune of 14.88 billion pounds (21.5 billion euros, 26.5 billion dollars), according to the newspaper's estimates Sunday.

Acelor is headquartered in Luxembourg, the richest EU member state in per capita terms, which in 2005 had an estimated GDP of 29.4 billion dollars -- about three billion dollars more than Mittal's apparent wealth.

Overall, the Sunday Times said, there are 54 billionaires -- in pound sterling terms -- who were either born in Britain, live in Britain or make their money in Britain and its overseas territories.

Twenty of them are immigrants to Britain, which, the Sunday Times said, was a sign of how the country is regarded as an welcoming place for the world's wealthiest folk.

Mittal's group is offering 18.6 billion euros for Arcelor, in a takeover bid that sparked concern in Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain and France -- all of which must give regulatory approval to the deal.

In its 104-page supplement, the Sunday Times said the wealth of Britain's richest 1,000 people now stands at a record 300.9 billion pounds, up from 249.6 billion pounds last year -- a rise of more than 20 percent.

This represents one of the biggest year-on-year increases since the Rich List -- based on "identifiable wealth" such as real estate, art and shareholdings, but not bank accounts -- was first published in 1989.

"This year, it takes a 60 million pound fortune to make it into the top 1,000 in the Rich List," the newspaper said in a summary of its findings, released Saturday.

In second place was Russian entrepreneur and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich at 10.8 billion pounds, whose oil interests saw his wealth surge sharply by more than three billion pounds.

Gerald Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, 54, for many years the richest native Briton thanks to his prime real estate holdings, was in third place at 6.6 billion pounds, after seeing a one billion pound rise in his fortune.

Queen Elizabeth II, who turned 80 on Friday, was said to be worth 300 million pounds -- leaving her in 192nd place, despite a gain of 30 million pounds in the past year thanks to higher stock and property prices.