Table of Contents
Italy awarded Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris one of its highest civilian honors on April 9, recognizing more than two decades of investments and institutional work that helped cement Egypt's presence in the Italian economy.
Italian Ambassador to Egypt Agostino Palese conferred the title of Grand Officer of the Ordine della Stella d'Italia — the Order of the Star of Italy — at a ceremony at his Cairo residence. The honor acknowledges Sawiris' contributions to economic, industrial and social cooperation between the two countries, as well as his broader role in fostering international partnerships.
"It is a great honor to receive this distinguished recognition from the Italian Republic," Sawiris said. "Italy has long been a valued partner to Egypt, and I am proud to have contributed, in my own way, to strengthening the ties between our two countries. I believe there remains significant opportunity to further deepen this relationship across investment, culture, and shared development goals."
Palese, in his remarks, pointed specifically to Sawiris' investments in Italy's telecommunications and digital sectors and his role as co-chair of the Italian-Egyptian Business Council. "Through significant investments in the telecommunications and digital sectors in Italy and in his previous role as co-chair of the Italian-Egyptian Business Council, he has made a significant contribution to the development of bilateral cooperation, promoting growth, innovation, and dialogue between our Countries," the ambassador said.
The deal that started it all
The ties Palese was referring to trace directly to a single, audacious transaction. In 2005, Sawiris formed Weather Investments, partly funded through his stake in Orascom Telecom, and led a $15 billion leveraged buyout of Wind Telecomunicazioni, at the time Italy's third-largest mobile operator. It was one of the largest telecom deals in European history and the biggest Egyptian investment ever made in Italy. Taking a public-sector business and rebuilding it under private management gave Sawiris firsthand exposure to the Italian market and the relationships that followed.
In 2010, he sold Wind Telecomunicazioni along with a controlling stake in Orascom Telecom Holding, receiving $1.5 billion in cash and a 20% stake in Russia's Vimpelcom. The following year, he merged Weather Investments, rebranded as Wind Telecom, with Vimpelcom, creating the world's sixth-largest mobile telecommunications provider. By 2012, further transactions had added more than $4 billion to his total proceeds from those telecom assets. The returns from that decade of deals became the foundation for everything he has built since.
Italy had already recognized that contribution in 2011, when Sawiris received the Star of Italian Solidarity for his leadership of the investment and its impact on the Italian economy. The Grand Officer designation announced this week is a more senior honor, reflecting his continued engagement with the bilateral relationship in the years that followed.
A portfolio built on gold, real estate and new bets
At 71, Sawiris is the eldest son of the late Onsi Sawiris, who founded the Orascom Group after rebuilding the family business from scratch following the nationalization of his construction company under President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Naguib, who studied mechanical engineering and earned a master's in technical administration from ETH Zurich in Switzerland, joined the family business in 1979 and eventually took charge of Orascom's telecommunications arm. Under him, Orascom Telecom went from 200,000 subscribers in 1998 to approximately 100 million by 2011, penetrating markets from Algeria and Pakistan to Iraq and North Korea.
Today his wealth sits in a different set of assets. Through La Mancha Resources, his Luxembourg-based mining investment firm in which he holds an estimated 70% stake, he has built significant positions in Endeavour Mining, a major Africa-focused gold producer, and Evolution Mining in Australia. Those positions drove a surge in his net worth through much of 2025 as gold prices climbed toward record highs, with Bloomberg tracking his fortune above $10 billion at its peak before a pullback in the metal's price trimmed the figure. Forbes, which applies a different methodology to his private holdings, puts his net worth at approximately $5 billion.
Beyond mining, Sawiris controls 88% of Euronews, the pan-European news network, through Media Globe Holdings. His Ora Developers real estate arm holds a $2.5 billion global portfolio spanning Silver Sands in Grenada, Ayia Napa Marina in Cyprus and the Eighteen luxury residential project in Islamabad. In January 2024, Ora signed a contract with the Iraqi government to develop Ali Al-Wardi City, billed as the largest residential city in Iraq. In July 2025, he invested $100 million in BluEV, a Moroccan electric mobility company working to replace petrol-powered motorbikes with electric two- and three-wheelers.
The Italian honor adds to a decorated international record. France elevated him to the rank of Commander in the Légion d'Honneur, one of that country's highest distinctions. Pakistan awarded him the Sitara-e-Quaid-e-Azam in 2006 for his telecommunications and development contributions there. Handong Global University in South Korea granted him an honorary doctorate in law in 2021. Less than 2 weeks before the Italian ceremony, on March 26, 2026, BPUR International presented him its award for Confronting the Political Abuse of Religion at the House of Commons in London, recognizing his public advocacy for religious coexistence and civic equality.
Sawiris co-founded the Free Egyptians Party in 2011 in the aftermath of Egypt's revolution, advocating a secular and free-market platform, and has remained one of Egypt's most publicly outspoken billionaires on political and social issues.
