Just over a thousand years on from the Vikings and the Dangeld, a Danish warrior of a different sort is slowly taking over Europe’s biggest island.
Eco-warrior Anders Holch Povlsen, whose family owns Danish fashion company Bestseller, is on the verge of becoming Britain’s second largest private landowner.
The 39-year-old, who is estimated to have a personal wealth of 37 billion kroner, has recently bought two more estates in Scotland for a reported 15 million pounds, and there are rumours his spending won’t stop there.
The acquisitions have swollen the Danish retail magnate’s portfolio to almost 130,000 acres, and further purchases might add an extra 50,000 acres.
If he succeeds, only the Duke of Buccleuch – with roughly 240,000 acres, also in Scotland – will own more than him.
Despite Povlsen’s well-know passion for ecological restoration, critics have speculated that his interest in British land ownership has more to do with its attractiveness as an investment: it is located outside the unstable Eurozone, yet still receives EU farming subsidies.
