12:41 PM
Thursday 07 April 2022
I wrote – Shaima Hefzy:
Forbes magazine announced the list of the richest Arabs 2022, and it included 6 Egyptians, five of whom are from the Sawiris and Mansour families, and the list was topped by the Egyptian businessman Nassef Sawiris.
Egypt and Lebanon have the largest number of wealthy Arabs, with 6 billionaires each, while the combined net worth of Egyptian billionaires is $18.3 billion.
The 2022 list of the richest Arab billionaires saw their number drop from 22 to 21 billionaires, after the death of Emirati billionaire Majid Al Futtaim in December 2021. Saudi billionaires were not included in the Forbes list of the world’s richest for the fifth year in a row.
Sawiris family
Nassef Sawiris, 61, ranked first in the list of the richest Arabs, and was described by Forbes as the richest billionaire in the Middle East. His fortune is $7.7 billion, despite a $600 million decrease from the previous year, according to the Forbes list issued today, Thursday.
Nassef, along with the Egyptian Orascom Construction, owns approximately 6% of the shares of the sportswear company Adidas, and 5% in the New York-listed Madison Square Garden Sports, which owns the NBA Knicks and the NHL Rangers.
Nassef manages OCI, one of the largest nitrogen fertilizer producers in the world, with factories in Texas and Iowa and its shares are traded on Euronext Amsterdam.
As for Naguib Sawiris (67), the older brother of Nassif, he ranked third among the richest people in the Middle East, with a fortune of $3.4 billion in 2022, an increase of $200 million compared to last year, according to the list.
Najib chairs the board of directors of Orascom Investment Holding and Italiaonline, has a majority stake of 88% in Euronews, and has developed a luxury resort called Silversands in Grenada.
Mansour family
– In the eighth place for billionaires in the Middle East came businessman Mohamed Mansour (74 years old), a former minister, and he supervises the Mansour Group, which was founded by his father Lotfi Mansour in 1952, and his fortune amounts to 2.5 billion dollars, which has not changed from last year.
Mansour established General Motors agencies in Egypt in 1975, becoming one of the largest distributors of its vehicles in the world. The group also has exclusive distribution rights for Caterpillar equipment in Egypt and 7 other African countries.
As for his older brother, Youssef Mansour (76 years old), who chairs the Mansour Group’s board of directors, he is ranked 15th in Forbes’ list of the richest people, with a fortune of $1.5 billion, which is also stable last year.
Youssef oversees the Consumer Products division, which includes the supermarket chain “Metro”, as well as individual distribution rights for “L’Oreal” products in Egypt.
Yassin Mansour (60 years), the youngest son of the founder of the Mansour Group, came last on the Forbes Rich List 2022, with a fortune of $1.1 billion. He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Palm Hills Development and Al-Ahly Sports Company.
Mohamed Al-Fayed
In the 11th place on the list came Mohamed Al-Fayed (93 years old) with a fortune of 2.1 billion dollars, after his wealth increased by 300 million dollars compared to last year.
Mohamed Al-Fayed was born in Alexandria, and moved in mid-1960 to the United Kingdom, where he made his fortune. He owns the (Ritz Paris) hotel, which reopened in 2016. In 2013, Al-Fayed sold the English club Fulham to billionaire Shahid Khan, with an estimated value of $300 million.
Who else is on the Forbes list?
The Forbes 2022 list of Arab billionaires includes 3 billionaires from the Emirates: Hussain Sajwani, Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Ghurair and the family, and Abdullah Al Futtaim and the family.
From Algeria, billionaire Issad Rebrab and his family came second on the list, with a fortune estimated at $5.1 billion.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his brother Taha were among the biggest gainers this year, after their fortunes increased by 700 million dollars to reach 3.2 billion dollars.
The net worth of Lebanese billionaires is $12.6 billion. Among them are the two brothers, Najib and Taha Mikati, and the sons of the late Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Bahaa, Ayman and Fahd Hariri.
Morocco has Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch and banker Othman Benjelloun and his family, and Qatar is represented by Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani and Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, both of whom are members of the Qatari royal family, according to Forbes.