That fortune was founded on his early dealings with Adnan Khashoggi, a wealthy Saudi arms dealer, whose sister he married and later divorced.Brunei
Many were taken in by him. He and his brother, Ali, had sufficient funds or backing by 1978 to buy the Ritz hotel in Paris for $30m.What really put him on the map though, so far as the City was concerned, was the saga which began in November 1984 and which turned into one of the nastiest and dirtiest takeover battles in history.
Mr Rowland, who had been famously dubbed"the unacceptable face of capitalism" by the former prime ministerSo he hit on the wheeze of"parking" the stake with the Fayed brothers.