Five things you may not know about Pallonji Mistry

He’s the richest Irish person in the world but nobody seems to know a whole lot about him. Pallonji Mistry, a man of mystery.

By William Nestor

Boy, it’s been difficult to unearth fact on the richest Irish person on the planet, according to the Irish Independent’s rich list, so forgive me for construing the facts a little here and there – for the sake of keeping you awake.

I’m sure you’ve already questioned the Irishness of the 72-year-old multi-billionaire (total wealth stands at a staggering €4.4bn) but that can be easily explained.

In 2003 Mistry became an Irish citizen due to his marriage to an Irish national. His wife Pat (Patsy) Perin Dubash was born in September 1939 in Hatch Street Nursing House in Dublin.

Mistry’s two sons, Cyrus and Shapoor, have automatically become Irish citizens because of their mother’s birth here.

Apart a keen interest in horses, Mistry does not have any business dealings in Ireland and the trail runs very cold on the reasoning for the aptly nicknamed “Phantom of Bombay House” setting up home here.

Anyway, we’ve come up things you may not know about the Irish-Parsi billionaire. And no, we don’t have his phone number.

1. Mistry the mystery

A reclusive construction tycoon, he chairs the 141-year old Shapoorji Pallonji group which his sons Shapoor and Cyrus run. Pallonji rarely appears in public, media shy and hardly ever gives interviews.

2. Mistry owns enough tea bags to fill 10,000 swimming pools, or thereabouts

Pallonji is the single largest shareholder of the Tata Group – which owns Tetley tea.

The construction tycoon has an 18.5pc stake in Tata Sons, which is the biggest piece of his largely private fortune.

3. Mistry’s biography is only five pages long*

A short biography of Mistry was written in a 2008 – a book by Manoj Namburu titled The Moguls of Real Estate. All he could get out of Pallonji was five pages of information.

4. Mistry owns Jaguar and Rover

In 2008 Tata bought Jaguar and Rover for €2.5bn. A snip at that price really, wasn’t it?

5. Mistry likes to 'keep it in the business'

His daughter Aloo is married to Noel Tata, the CEO of the retail arm of the Tata Group. Noel is also the half-brother of the Tata Group head Ratan Tata.

*Denotes our stretching of the truth, there's a lot more than five pages in his biography