IT IS one of the most extraordinary stories in British business: four brothers in their thirties, forties and fifties who still live with mum and dad and aim to build one of the biggest toiletries firms in the world.

“It’s not always easy,” laughs Mike Jatania. “Let’s be plain about that. It’s challenging. And you’re right, it’s not common, even among Asian families, especially given the size of the business we now run.”

The Jatania brothers — Mike, Vin, Danny and George — seemed to have popped up from nowhere to stake a claim in the global toiletries market but, in fact, have spent the past two decades slowly amassing brands in Lornamead, their privately owned trading company. More recently they have been on a spree: Harmony, Amplex, Goldspot, Lypsyl, Stergene and other brands have been added to the group.

They have a neat trick. As multinationals like Unilever chase global markets and concentrate resources on worldwide sellers, the Jatania boys nip in and buy the “orphan” brands that are surplus to requirements. Hey presto, a ready-made empire.

The fact that they live in a clutch of converted penthouse flats, mum and dad too, atop a block in London’s Marble Arch, controlling personal wealth estimated at £500m, makes it all the more intriguing.

People can’t run a big business this way, can they? Yes, they can. This year, the family is dipping its toe in public waters, having set up a quoted City fund, Epic Brand Investments, which will co-invest in Jatania acquisitions. The first deals will be announced soon. If that works, who knows? Lornamead itself, based in Dubai, might come onto the market.

But it’s early days, cautions Mike Jatania. Sharp, compact, elegantly coiffed and extremely charming, Jatania is the youngest of the four, just 38, yet already chief executive and the acknowledged frontman for family business interests that stretch back two generations. Dad, now 91, left Gujarat in India in the 1930s to make his fortune in Uganda, building up a trading company that supplied eastern Africa. He moved to Britain in the late 1960s, bringing his wife, three girls and four boys with him and settling initially in Leicester.

The eldest boy, George, set up Lornamead to trade with western Africa. The other children jumped in, gradually expanding the business. In the 1990s it moved from pushing its own brands in drink, food and toiletries to buying others, and concentrating on the home and personal care market.

The business has boomed. Wealth watchers rank the publicity-shy Jatanias, who own chunks of property in London’s Paddington and Elephant & Castle, as second only to the Mittals as Britain’s richest Asians.

Well, I say publicity-shy, but Mike Jatania is not what you would call retiring. Armani-clad, expensively after-shaved, with his Bentley parked beneath the offices of his City PR firm where we meet, the multilingual Jatania (Gujarati, Hindi, English and French) clearly enjoys his success. He is frequently spotted in Gordon Ramsay’s at Claridge’s, or cheering on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Jatanias haven’t built an empire in 90 countries by taking big risks. They stick to what they know, hire experienced managers with big-company track records to run their brands, and concentrate on scouting out the next opportunities. They are also good payers, so they have no difficulty in attracting talent.

“We’re more like investors than directors,” says Jatania. “We all have a different skill set. Danny (aged 43) is finance and admin, Vin (47) is business development, George (52) is more entrepreneurial.”

They meet daily — and often their parents come too. Jatania says they learnt the key skills from their father: a positive approach, the importance of contacts, watching the numbers, moving fast, getting deals done.