African Wealth Briefing — Mon., Aug. 10, 2026

Egypt's MNT-Halan will list only its Egyptian arm, at up to $1 billion, keeping its Turkish, Pakistani and Gulf businesses private. And Julius Rone is targeting September for the go-ahead on Nigeria's first floating LNG plant — built to capture gas the country has spent decades burning off.

Good evening from Billionaires.Africa. Here's the weekend in review.

The throughline was the choice of what to keep and what to let go. A fintech founder deciding which half of his company to sell to the public; a gas entrepreneur betting billions on a resource Nigeria has been flaring for fifty years; and Cameroon's cocoa queen proving that the partner she walked away from was one she could live without. Everywhere, the interesting decisions were about what stays in private hands, and what gets built or burned.

North Africa — the selective float. Egypt's Mounir Nakhla plans to list only MNT-Halan's Egyptian arm, valued at up to $1 billion, while keeping its Turkish, Pakistani and Gulf operations private inside a $1.4 billion group. (Today's Investor Memo explains why what he's not listing is the real strategy.)

West & Central Africa — floating gas, and independence tested. Nigeria's Julius Rone is targeting a September go-ahead for the country's first floating LNG plant, a locally-led project to monetise offshore gas long flared. (Today's Deep-Dive weighs the prize against the risk.) Cameroon's Kate Fotso retook the cocoa export lead, shipping 40,631 tonnes a year after splitting from Cargill. (She's today's Inside Story.) Côte d'Ivoire's Ahmed Cissé is buying a $180 million stake in the bank he already chairs, BICICI, in a privatisation whose price has not been disclosed. Femi Otedola bought $13 million more First HoldCo shares at a premium to the block on offer, extending his march on Nigeria's most valuable bank. In harder news, Geregu Power defaulted on a ₦40.09 billion bond eight months after politician Abdulaziz Yari's $750 million takeover, and the estate of the late Bode Akindele was placed under state control amid a will dispute.

East Africa — a refinery, a stadium, and the courts. Aliko Dangote will break ground on a $16 billion Kenyan refinery by October on Lamu Island — this after his Nigerian refinery supplied a fifth of Europe's jet fuel in July despite a plant fault. Tanzania's Mo Dewji pledged $11.3 million to build a stadium for Simba SC; Uganda's Mukesh Shukla saw his Kampala towers cleared for sale over debt; and Kenya's Gideon Muriuki won a court order blocking his arrest days before a scheduled plea — a matter now before the courts, where he is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

Southern Africa & beyond — a chip factory and a frozen fortune. South Africa-born Elon Musk's Tesla and SpaceX committed $16.8 billion to a Terafab chip factory in Texas. And Angola is pressing Switzerland to release $900 million frozen in the accounts of Carlos São Vicente, convicted and jailed in Angola since 2020 — a cross-border asset fight reported here as a matter of public record. In the diaspora, Haitian-born Herriot Tabuteau sold $10.5 million in Axsome shares ahead of earnings.

The takeaway. Wealth is usually built by acquiring; this weekend it was shaped by subtracting — deciding what not to sell, what not to keep, what to stop burning. Nakhla is listing half a company on purpose, Rone is spending billions to stop wasting a resource, and Fotso proved that walking away from her biggest partner was survivable. The hardest calls in business are rarely about what to take on. They're about what to let go.

On the site

• Mounir Nakhla plans to list only MNT-Halan's Egyptian arm and keep the rest private
• Nigerian gas tycoon Julius Rone targets September go-ahead for $3 billion floating LNG plant
• Cameroon's richest woman Kate Fotso retakes the cocoa export lead she lost last year
• Africa's richest man will break ground on a $16 billion Kenyan refinery by October
• Aliko Dangote's refinery supplied a fifth of Europe's jet fuel in July despite a plant fault
• Ivorian tycoon Ahmed Cissé is buying a $180 million stake in the bank he already chairs
• Femi Otedola buys $13 million more First HoldCo shares at a premium to the block on offer
• Nigerian politician Abdulaziz Yari's Geregu Power defaults on bond after $750 million takeover
• Late Nigerian billionaire Bode Akindele's estate placed under state control in will dispute
• Tanzanian billionaire Mo Dewji pledges $11.3 million to build a stadium for Simba SC
• Ugandan tycoon Mukesh Shukla's Kampala towers cleared for sale over debt
• Kenyan banking multimillionaire Gideon Muriuki wins order blocking his arrest days before plea
• Elon Musk's Tesla and SpaceX commit $16.8 billion to build Terafab chip factory in Texas
• Angola presses Switzerland for the $900 million frozen in convicted billionaire Carlos São Vicente's accounts
• Haitian-born billionaire Herriot Tabuteau sells $10.5 million in Axsome shares before earnings

Behind the paywall — for paid members

Today's premium briefings:

• Elite · Investor Memo — What Stays Private. MNT-Halan will float only its Egyptian arm at up to $1 billion and keep its Turkish, Pakistani and Gulf businesses private inside a $1.4 billion group. Why the part he's holding back is the real strategy — and what you'd actually be buying. In Investor Memo.
• Executive · Deep-Dive Report — Out of the Flare. Julius Rone's bet to build Nigeria's first floating LNG plant and monetise gas the country has flared for decades. The prize, and why the September go-ahead deserves both optimism and caution. In Deep-Dive Report.
• Insider · The Inside Story — The Iron Lady. Kate Fotso gave up the Cargill partnership that owned half her company, endured the worst season in its history, and took the cocoa export lead back in one year. The price, and payoff, of independence. In The Inside Story.

Recently published:

• Investor Memo: Nicky Oppenheimer — Sold at the Top
• Deep-Dive Report: Globacom — No Shares for Sale
• The Inside Story: Ladi Delano — The Third Act

→ Executive ($25/mo): Daily newsletter + Deep-Dive Reports · → Elite ($75/mo): Everything above + Investor Memos + Wealth Intelligence + Quarterly Analyst Briefings. Subscribe

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