Dangote loses 32% of wealth in 2016 – Bloomberg index
Dangote loses 32% of wealth in 2016 – Bloomberg index
Africa’s richest man and President of
the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has lost 32 per cent of his wealth,
according to the Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday
that Dangote lost $4.9bn or one-third of his wealth as the combined
effect of falling oil prices and the June devaluation of the naira
pushed him to No. 112 on the billionaires’ list with $10.4bn. Dangote
was the world’s 46th-richest person in June.
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud fell by $4.9bn, a 20 per cent drop, the report added.
Alwaleed had said in November that all
of his stakes in public companies, including Citigroup Incorporated,
were potentially for sale, reversing a longstanding policy that some of
his most-prized shareholdings were “forever.”
Wealth creation in China turned negative
for the first time since the inception of the Bloomberg index five
years ago, with the country’s richest losing $11bn in 2016 amid a slump
in the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index and a seven per cent decline for
the yuan against the dollar.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited’s founder,
Jack Ma, closed the year with $33.3bn, adding $3.6bn in 2016. He
dropped in and out of his place as Asia’s richest person for the first
four months of the year before claiming it for good in May, after
Alibaba’s finance affiliate, which is laying the groundwork for an
initial public offering expected as soon as next year, completed a
record $4.5bn equity fundraising round.
China has 31 billionaires on the index
with $262bn, trailing the US, which has 179 billionaires who control
$1.9tn, and Germany, whose 39 individuals have $281bn.
Russian billionaires also began to put
the negative effects of the US and European sanctions behind them,
reversing the combined $63bn declines for 2014 and 2015, and adding
$49bn in 2016.
Wealth managers for the world’s richest
are girding themselves for similarly frenetic start to 2017 as the
seismic changes that voters demanded this year start to take shape.
“Expect the unexpected,” said Sabine
Kaiser, founder of SKadvisory, which advises family offices on venture
capital and private equity. “I don’t think family offices are overly
concerned or getting too nervous but after Brexit and Trump, they’ve
resigned themselves to market volatility.”
In a year when populist voters reshaped
power and politics across Europe and the U.S., the world’s wealthiest
people are ending 2016 with $237 billion more than they had at the
start.
However, the Bloomberg Billionaire index revealed that the world’s richest made $237bn this year.
The gains were led by Warren Buffett,
who added $11.8bn during the year as his investment firm, Berkshire
Hathaway Incorporated, saw its airline and banking holdings soar after
Donald Trump’s surprise victory on November 8. Buffett, who’s pledged to
give away most of his fortune to charity, donated Berkshire Hathaway
stock valued at $2.6bn in July.
The US investor reclaimed his spot as
the world’s second-richest person two days after Trump’s victory ignited
a year-end rally that pushed his wealth up by 19 per cent for the year
to $74.1bn.
“The year 2016 has been event-driven
with global news driving prices rather than fundamentals,” said Michael
Cole, president of Ascent Private Capital Management, which has about
$10bn of assets under administration.”
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