FINANCIALS!!! 1. Johann Ruppert And Family 2. Nicky Oppenheimer And Family 3. Christoffel Wiese 4. Patrice Motsepe 5. Desmond Sacco 6. Stephen Saad Businessman Johann Rupert makes R2.34 billion offer for Caxton South Africa leads the African continent in names appearing on Forbes list of Africa’s 50 Richest. With 14 individuals on the list, the country trumps both Nigeria (11 fortunes) and Egypt (9 fortunes). South Africa’s 14 richest have a combined net worth of $28.79 billion, and an average net worth of $2.06 billion. South Africa’s largest fortunes have seen slow growth in the past year, weighed down by meager gains in the resources and mining sectors.Nicky Oppenheimer($6.6 billion), who recently sold diamond mining firm De Beers to mining giant Anglo American for $5.1 billion; African Rainbow Minerals chairmanPatrice Motsepe($2.7 billion) and Assore chairmanDesmond Sacco($1.4 billion) barely saw their fortunes move compared to a year ago. The real standout success story in South Africa this year isStephen Saadand his drug company Aspen Pharmacare. His fortune is up more than 50% from a year ago to $1.5 billion. The stock surge also introduced a newcomer to the richest Africans list: Saad’s deputy and Aspen’s cofounder,Gus Attridge. He debuts on the list with a fortune of $525 million. Another big gainer?Johann Rupert, whose fortune – comprised largely in shares of luxury goods maker Richemont — grew 39% to $7.9 billion, allowing him to leapfrog Oppenheimer to become South Africa’s richest man. The list of Africa’s 50 Richestcatalogs the wealthiest individuals whose primary residence is in Africa, thereby excluding rich South Africans like Bermuda resident Allan Gray and UK resident Donald Gordon. Troubling trends continue. Only two of South Africa’s 14 richest are black – and most of the remaining fortunes have roots in Apartheid-era South Africa (still better, it should be noted, than America’s 1-in-400 figure; Oprah Winfrey is the US’s only black billionaire). None of the country’s richest are women. But there’s reason for hope. In December 2012, investor-entrepreneurCyril Ramaphosa($700 million) was elected Deputy President of the country’s ruling African National Congress party. Closely associated with Nelson Mandela during the fight for liberation, Ramaphosa has since worn many contradictory hats: union leader, union buster, black economic empowerment success story, and part-owner of both McDonald’sand Coca-Cola’sSouth African outfits. He has an uphill battle against some of current President Jacob Zuma’s closest supporters in the race for the party’s top spot, they fear Ramaphosa will resume corruption investigations into President Zuma. “His election was meant to reassure business, international investors and the middle class that the ANC had, in its top leadership, at least one leader who understood a modern economy and was not dominated by the riffraff who wanted to nationalize mines and expropriate businesses,” writes South African newspaper Mail & Guardian. But technocrat Ramaphosa’s possible ascendency to the presidency in 2017, with the hope of an era of good governance, seems predicated on a deal with the devil not to prosecute former bad governance. Outside the realm of politics, another South African to watch is Naspers bossKoos Bekker,whose fortune climbed past the $1 billion rank for the first time this year to $1.1 billion. He has transformed a publishing company into a powerful global media and tech investor. Naspers owns stakes in China’s Internet and messaging leader Tencent Holdings, Russia’s Mail.ru and Brazilian magazine publisher Abril, to name a few. He gets paid exclusively in share options, and picked up 11.7 million of them in three batches between 2011 and 2013, each with ten year expiries. He converted an earlier batch of 4.7 million options into shares in December 2012. Between that conversion and Naspers’ 70% gain in the past year (gains attributable almost entirely to his early-2000’s bet on China’s Tencent Holdings), Bekker’s fortune has grown 140% in the past year. The collective wealth of the top 20 grew 8.6% over the previous year and saw Shoprites Christo Wiese knocking mining magnate Patrice Motsepe off his perch as the richest South African. Wieses assets were worth close to R27.5-billion at the end of March, compared with R15.2-billion at the same time last year. This is despite a slightly smaller share portfolio - Wiese sold his stake in investment business PSG in a cash-and-share-swap deal with Steinhoff. This gained him a stake in the diversified investment company, although it was not substantial enough to make it on the companys annual report and the Rich List. Wieses wealth grew mainly because of a surge in the share price of grocer Shoprite, which is now worth about R182.80 a share, compared with R137 last year. He also has a stake in Invicta Holdings, an investment holding company managing assets of more than R12-billion. Invictas share price closed at R102 at the end of March, compared with R65 last year. Although Motsepe, who retains stakes in Sanlam and African Rainbow Minerals, is about R2.6-billion richer than last year, his R22.6-billion fortune was no match for Wieses, which is why he slipped to second spot. Last year, a 10% fall in the value of African Rainbow Minerals wiped out a big chunk of Motsepes wealth. But the share price rose in the past year, escaping misfortunes, such as a strike at its Modikwa platinum mine in Limpopo, unscathed. Lakshmi Mittal, who plays in the manufacturing sector, was not so lucky. The Indian steel billionaire plunged six places down the list as his 52% stake in ArcelorMittal shrank in value. Lower prices and weak demand for its product halved the value of Mittals stake in the worlds largest steelmaker - from R12.9-billion last year to only R6.6-billion. Replacing him in third place is Aspen Pharmacare boss Stephen Saad, previously in ninth spot on the Rich List. Saads colleague Gus Attridge entered the top 20 for the first time with a R3.6-billion fortune. Both are beneficiaries of gains in Aspens share price, which hit R190.99 in March, up from R119 the previous year. News of Aspens deal-making appears to be behind the gains: two deals with British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline - collectively worth R4.3-billion - and talks with US company MSD to buy a product facility in the Netherlands and a related suite of products. The Western Cape has contributed most of the biggest gainers on the Rich List. Koos Bekker, CEO at Cape Town-based Naspers, climbed six places in the rankings to make him the eighth-richest. Bekkers R7.1-billion fortune was gleaned mostly from Naspers, which has had a great year owing to its internet businesses. This year, the businesses - including Hong Kong-based Tencent and Russias Mail.ru - brought in more money than Nasperss pay-television arm, Multichoice, for the first time. The Rembrandt trust, an investment vehicle belonging to the scions of the Rupert industrial family, represented by businessman Johann Rupert, rose five places on the list. Its sole listed asset, the Remgro investment group based in Stellenbosch, more than doubled in value, closing at R238.10 at the end of its financial year. Jannie Mouton, founder of PSG - yet another Stellenbosch-based business - rose four places in the rankings with assets worth almost R3.2-billion. PSG owns stakes in Capitec bank and private education provider Curro. Mittal should feel better knowing he was not the only loser this year. Joining him on his downward slide were GT Ferreira - down four places - and Laurie Dippenaar - three places - the co-founders of the FirstRand banking group. Paul Harris, another FirstRand executive, dropped out of the top 20 altogether. Cyril Ramaphosas exit from mining holding company Assore pushed him four places down the list. Entering the top 20 for the first time was Discoverys Barry Swartzberg, with his sole listed asset gaining 52% to reach R2.2-billion and earning him 18th spot on the Rich List.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 13:31:19 +0000
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