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Johann Rupert is 76, Nicky Oppenheimer 81 and Michiel le Roux 77. Between them they control about $30 billion, and each family is handing over in a different way. How the structures work, what the heirs have done, and what succession means for Richemont, Capitec and their investors.
Dangote Cement's profit rose 31% and its shares hit a record. BUA Cement's profit rose 60%, First HoldCo's pre-tax profit 61% and Seplat's 174%. GTCO's fell 12%. A company-by-company reading of Nigeria's nine-month results, and what they mean for the fortunes behind them.
Nedbank has completed its takeover of 66% of NCBA. The Kenyatta, Ndegwa and Merali families receive about $319 million, mostly in Nedbank shares, and keep NCBA stakes worth another $131 million. What each family gets, what the stock-heavy terms mean, and what to watch next.
Forbes says $51.7 billion, Bloomberg $35.7 billion. Most of the gap is one asset that has never had a market price: the refinery. Its IPO implies a valuation of about $48 billion, and subscriptions close Tuesday. What Dangote owns, how it is valued, and what listing will settle.
Strive Masiyiwa left an exchange that priced Econet at $239 million against $779 million of revenue, and listed its towers, power and property at $1 billion instead. Four months later InfraCo had lost a third. What the $309 million says about his holdings, and about being right too early.
Glencore has just taken a $480 million provision — one of the largest trading losses in its history as a public company — on a single counterparty, and now faces a $2 billion lawsuit from that same former partner.
Lebashe sits on $2.5 billion of Capitec shares — bought with borrowed money and pledged to two banks as collateral. The week Dangote's fortune jumped $23 billion on a filing, it's the counter-lesson: a headline number and a real fortune are not the same thing. Gross vs. net.
Nigeria rejoins FTSE's frontier index on Sept 21, sending global passive capital to ten giants — Dangote Cement, First HoldCo, MTN. But BUA, UBA and Seplat were left out on free float, not size. The paradox: the concentration that makes these owners rich keeps their companies out.
Nassef Sawiris spent two years selling off OCI's fertiliser and methanol empire and paying shareholders billions. Now he's buying back the shell at a 2% premium to take it private. The lesson: value is realised by what you sell, not what you hold.
Christo Wiese chaired Shoprite for 29 years as it became Africa's largest retailer. This week he explained why its great rival fell behind: Pick n Pay, he said, spent decades handing cash to shareholders instead of reinvesting it.
Angola raised $321 million floating 15% of Unitel — the mobile operator it took from Isabel dos Santos four years ago. The largest IPO in the nation's history is really a test of a much bigger question.
Merck handed Aspen the right to make a once-monthly HIV pill across 129 countries. It is the second pharma prize Africa's largest drugmaker has landed this month.
Johann Rupert spent months examining a "potentially very significant" investment — and walked away. Reinet is now buying back up to €500 million of its own shares instead, sitting on the largest cash pile in its history.
Femi Otedola is a Forbes-listed billionaire and the author of one of the boldest bets in Nigerian banking. Yesterday his First HoldCo stake hit a record $530 million. Inside the holdings, the cash flows and the pivot behind the number.
How Aliko Dangote's $17 billion Lamu bet turns a single plant into a continental system — and what it signals about the IPO to come.
He built Capitec for the customers South Africa’s banks ignored — and rode it to a $3.8 billion fortune as the lender became Africa’s most valuable bank.