Nassef Sawiris Regains His Position as Africa’s Fourth-richest man 

Nassef Sawiris, Egypt’s richest man has regained his position as the fourth richest man in Africa. The development comes 38 days after he was displaced by Nigerian billionaire, Abdulsamad Rabiu.

The $200 million increase in his net worth is linked to the valuation of his diversified portfolio of industrial assets across Europe and Africa. 

His diverse range of assets includes a six-percent stake in Adidas and a 38.8-per cent stake in OCI N.V., a leading global producer and distributor of nitrogen and methanol products. 

Sawiris’s position recovery comes at a time when the global equity market is characterised by heightened volatility, triggering a decline in share prices. 

How did Sawiris regain his position?

While the net worth of Arab’s richest man increased by $200 million, Rabiu’s net worth has fallen from $8 billion to $7.6 billion.

In the first 12 days of the year, Forbes reported that Abdul Samad Rabiu lost $255 million due to the reassessment of several of his unlisted companies that are part of the rapidly expanding manufacturing and industrial conglomerate, BUA Group.

The drop in Rabiu’s net worth comes after he made over $ 2.4 billion in 2022 to become Africa’s fourth richest man.

It also comes after his unified food business, BUA Foods Plc, reported record-high earnings at the end of its 2022 fiscal year. BUA Foods’ operations include the activities of BUA Sugar Refinery Limited, BUA Oil Mills Limited, IRS Flour, IRS Pasta, and BUA Rice Limited.

Abdulsamad Rabiu, the founder of BUA Group, merged his privately-owned Obu Cement company with the listed firm Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria in January 2020.

The combined firm, called BUA Cement Plc, trades on the Nigerian stock exchange and Rabiu owns 98.2% of it.

Despite the recent setback, the billionaire cement tycoon is still the second wealthiest person in Nigeria.