The 15 richest Brits in drinks

5. Alejandro Santo Domingo and Lady Charlotte Wellesley

Position 2019: 55

Position 2020: 69

Worth: £2.031 billion

Rise/fall: –£804m

Sources: Inheritance, brewing, investment

The Sunday Times’ Rich List compilers took £804m off the fifth wealthiest couple’s estimated worth this year, partly due to their interests in AB InBev.

The Colombian-American billionaire Alejandro Santo Domingo married British blue-blood Lady Charlotte Wellesley in May 2017.

Santo Domingo is the Harvard-educated scion of the Bavaria brewery in Colombia, sold by his father Julio Mario (who died in 2011) in 2005 for a 15% stake in SABMiller. The stake is the largest in a diverse portfolio of companies that make up the privately held Santo Domingo Group. He also bought a 20% stake in celebrated Bordeaux winery Château Pétrus in 2018.

Alejandro helped broker SABMiller’s 2016 merger with AB InBev, the maker of Corona beer, a deal that left him with a 1.7% holding in the new owner. AB InBev has seen its share price slide since the pandemic forced governments worldwide to close bars and restaurants this year, cutting off a vital route to market.

Santo Domingo’s AB InBev stake is now worth about £1.14bn, down £490m in a year.