Tin Can Tycoon

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Skellefteå - SWEDEN

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Millionaire Curt Degerman

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He was a common sight on the streets of the Swedish coastal town where he was dismissed as little more than a bad-smelling eccentric. For 40 years he spent his days touring the bins on an old bicycle stuffing the containers he collected into bags tied between the handlebars. But after he died of a heart attack aged 60, it emerged that through shrewd investment he had turned the modest deposits earned from returning the empty cans into a fortune estimated at more than £1.1 million. Relatives discovered he had left behind a portfolio of stocks and shares worth at least £731,000 in a Swiss bank account and a safety deposit box containing 124 gold bars valued at £250,000. He also had nearly £4,300 in a local current account and £275 of loose change at his home. He was a financial genius who used the money he earned from collecting scrap metal from rubbish bins to trade on the international markets. He never spent any money and ate leftovers from the bins of fast food restaurants, made his investments after a life time spent studying Swedish newspapers. Clothed in torn trousers and a filthy blue anorak, he would pore over the financial pages of the dailies displayed in the town's public library. He went to the library every day because he didn't buy newspapers. He knew the stock market inside out.

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Mr Degerman made a will leaving his entire fortune to the cousin, who visited him regularly in the months before his death. But when the full extent of the estate emerged the will was contested by another cousin who believed his father, Mr Degerman's uncle was entitled to it. Under Swedish inheritance law the uncle, whose name has not been made public, held the legal right to inherit his nephew's riches. A settlement between the two cousins was finally negotiated out of court this week. The pair have agreed to share the surprise fortune after being urged to make a private agreement by a magistrate at Skellefteå district court. Neither would reveal the details of the settlement but both said they were "satisfied" with the outcome.
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