A Danish fashion tycoon with a passion for the Scottish countryside is set to overtake the Duke of Buccleuch as the UK’s largest private landowner.
Anders Holch Povlsen, who is estimated to have a £4billion fortune, is expected to expand his 150,000 acres in Scotland in an effort to create a vast, uninterrupted wilderness.
His Scottish spokesman confirmed Mr Povlsen’s plan was to acquire a string of Highland estates adjacent to his 43,000-acre Glenfeshie Estate in Inverness-shire, which he acquired in 2006.
It is thought he is interested in buying the 12,600-acre Lynaberack and Ruthven Estate in Kingussie. It is owned jointly and run by brothers Nat and Michael Hone, whose family has had the estate since 1958.
Thomas MacDonell, director of conservation at Mr Povlsen’s firm Wildland, declined to comment on specific estates but said the Danish heir was actively looking to buy more land.
He said: “The reason for grouping estates together is that it allows us to pursue landscape-scale restoration. We are keen to buy more estates.”
Accounts filed by the company Mr Povlsen set up in 2012 put the value of his Scottish properties at £65.2million. He has added several estates to his portfolio in recent years.
Mr Povlsen extended Glenfeshie by about 4,000 acres by buying the neighbouring farm of Killiehuntly.
In 2008, he bought the 30,000-acre Braeroy Estate, near Fort William, and in 2011 bought the 24,000-acre Ben Loyal Estate and the 18,000-acre Kinloch Estate near Tongue, both in Sutherland.
Last year, he acquired the 20,000 Gaick Estate from Xavier Louis Vuitton, fifth-generation head of the French designer-goods family.
He also struck a deal with Forestry Commission Scotland that involved him buying 1,000 acres in the Borders to swap for Highland woodland near to one of his estates.
The Duke of Buccleuch has an estimated 240,000 acres.