Eddie and Sol Zakay

Eddie Zakay was born in July 1950 and Sol Zakay was born in June 1952.[2] They were both born in Israel [3]

Eddie and Sol Zakay started their property business in Britain during the 1980s property boom. They later expanded into the U.S. and Middle Eastern markets.[3] The Times described the brothers as having made their money principally through sale and leaseback deals with supermarkets, particularly an important deal with Marks & Spencer in 2001.[4]

Sol Zakay left Britain to live in Israel. In 2013, he returned to the UK and took over as chairman and CEO of Topland from Eddie, who became deputy chairman.[5]

Topland Group is one of the world's largest privately owned property and investment groups. The company owns property in the UK and in 2013 bought 12 out of the 15 hotels (all in the UK) owned by the bankrupt Menzies Hotels for about $135 million.[6] They own a number of other UK hotels, including Bath's Royal Crescent Hotel, the Hilton Brighton Metropole, the Glasgow Hilton and several Thistle Hotels, six in central London and one in Edinburgh.[6]

The brothers are thought to be majority owners of Topland which, according to This is Money in 2003, is "ultimately controlled from the British Virgin Islands".[3] On the Forbes 2016 list of the world's billionaires, they were ranked #688 with a net worth of US$2.5 billion.[1]

The company has since diversified into natural resources and renewable energy.[1]

In 2012, The Guardian reported that Topland and Eddie Zakay were being sued by the U.K.'s Ministry of Justice for allegedly having "conspired with a property agent in 2002 to extract inflated rents from the government on one of its central London buildings which houses the main London divorce courts" and having engaged in "deceit, fraud by bribery, dishonest assistance and breach of confidence" and "unlawful conspiracy". The case was first lodged by Labour party minister Jack Straw in May 2010. In 2011, the brothers, via Topland, made a £25,000 donation to the British Conservative Party, who by then were in government with the Liberal Democrats.[7] The case was subsequently "settled out of court on confidential terms".[8]

In 2010, Topland held a business lunch at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London in conjunction with Jewish Care, at which £241,000 was raised for the charity's causes.[9]