Norway boasts a record 222 billionaires

The highest ever number of billionaires in Norway's history was revealed in Kapital's list of the country's 400 richest people who all had wealth in excess of half a billion kroner.

Topping the list was Norwegian John Fredriksen who is said to be worth 102 billion kroner ($16 billion). It is the first time an individual has passed the 100 billion kroner mark for his or her personal fortune and Fredriksen became 12 billion kroner ($1.9 billion) richer since last year.

With half of his values in stock exchange listed companies and more than 35 billion kroner ($5.5 billion) in the bank,  it seems Fredriksen is minimising the risk of his investment portfolios, Kapital reported.

Norway's richest man John Fredriksen. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

In second place was real estate and hotel kingpin Olav Thon.

In the battle of the food billionaires, supermarket supremo Odd Reitan (5th) was pipped by one place his business rival Johan Johansson (3rd) of NorgesGruppen in the list.

The richest woman in Norway is oil industry magnate Helene Odfjell at 18th on the list. She has an estimated fortune of 6.5 billion kroner ($1 billion) and owns Odfjell Drilling.