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Adenuga joins Dangote in Forbes Richest with 2billion dollars plus list of 100 richest men in the world

Posted by businessday9jabook on March 10, 2011 at 9:11pm
12166304058?profile=originalNigerian business mogul, Mike Adenuga the founder of 12166303867?profile=originalGlobacom- the mobile, fixed, broadband, and international gateway carrier, has joined Forbes Magazine’ billionaires list with a net worth of $2 billion. He joins his countryman, Aliko Dangote, a regular feature in the list, whose furtune surged 557 per cent to $13.8 billion, up from $2.1 billion during the period.

On top of the billionaires' list is Mexico's Carlos Slim Helú, who added $20.5 billion to his fortune, more than any other billionaire. The telecom mogul, who gets 62 per cent of his fortune from America is now worth $74 billion and has pulled far ahead of his two closest rivals.

Photos: Left New "kid on the block Otunba Adenuga,right:Aliko Dangote aka Chemical ALi Richest Person in Africa and getting richer by the day even richer than facebook founder !

However, the Microsoft Guru, Bill Gates came second and the investor magnate Warren Buffett came third. Both added a more modest $3 billion to their piles and are now worth $56 billion and $50 billion, respectively.

Gates, who now gets 70 per cent of his fortune from investments outside of Microsoft has actually been investing in the Mexican stock market and has holdings in Mexican Coke bottler Femsa and Grupo Televisa.

Adenuga, owner of several high profile firms which include Conoil Producing, Conoil Plc, Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB), launched Globacom services in Nigeria in 2005, in the Republic of Benin in 2008 and has licences to operate in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire (with Togo and Senegal next).

He took a big gamble laying a $1 billion undersea fibre optic cable, Glo-1, to link Africa with the rest of the world. (partnered with Alcatel-Lucent). The connection will help lower prices for customers as well as help Adenuga expand more quickly.

As for Dangote, who is now the number 51 in the Forbe's list from 334 position in 2008; a step ahead of the Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg,  who made the list for the first time with a networth of $13.5 billion at the 52nd position.

Dangote fortune surged during the period, after he consolidated all his public and private cement holdings throughout Africa into the continent’s largest cement manufacturer and took it public on the Nigerian stock exchange in October.

Dangote Cement now has a market value in excess of $13 billion, and accounts for a quarter of the Nigeria Stock Exchange’s total market capitalization.

The dearth of native suppliers to meet increasing cement demand is driving the stock price. Dangote projects demand at 72 million metric tons and growing because of the drive to build infrastructure in Nigeria, Africa’s most populated nation, as well as other countries; current supply is 67 million metric tons, a shortfall of 5 million metric tons.

For perspective, he is now richer than longtime white South African billionaires Nicky Oppenheimer of Debeers and Johann Rupert of luxury goods group Richemont, which owns Cartier, Dunhill and other premium brands.

For now he’s gearing up to introduce Dangote Cement to foreign investors. Companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange are required to have a minimum free float of 25 per cent, Dangote initially listed 5 per cent of shares. According to analysts at Thaddeus Investment Advisors, the Nigerian market is too shallow for a stock of Dangote Cement’s size to be listed on the exchange; this is why the balance of the free float will be listed outside of Nigeria. Dangote, who recently bought himself a $45 million Bombardier aircraft for his birthday, has been shuttling back and forth to London for months, in anticipation of a public offering in London later this year.

He is certainly one to watch. After a lucrative career in trading, Dangote ventured into manufacturing pasta, salt, sugar, and flour in 1997, in part encouraged by the policies of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Eventually Dangote went from importing and rebagging cement to production as well; he was awarded the government’s then state-owned cement business and began building his own plant in 2003. Cement revenue which has been primarily based on imports grew 15% a year between 2001 and 2005; once the Obajana plant was fully operational in 2007, revenue quadrupled; in fiscal 2009 revenue was $1.2 billion.

Dangote Cement now owns three cement plants and two terminals in Nigeria where he both produces and still imports cement. The Obajana plant is Dangote’s largest to date and controls the largest market share in Nigeria; Dangote terminals at Lagos and Port-Harcourt have the highest import quotas of all local companies. With additional capacity coming on line this year, total capacity is expected to reach 26 million metric tons by the end of 2011. (also helping boost profits: Dangote’s newly combined entity is tax exempt through 2017.)

But he won’t stop there. Dangote has started building investments in cement plants and terminals across Africa including Senegal, Zambia, Tanzania, Congo, Ethiopia, Cameroun, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Ghana.

Meanwhile, Egypt led other African countries in the Forbes billionaires' list, with eight billionaires on the list, followed by South Africa with four billionaires,  while Nigeria came third with two billionaires. Chief Mike Adenuga  joined Dangote on the Forbes’ list rated 597 in the world, and worth $2 billion. Mr Femi Otedola who was previously with Dangote in the list is no longer there.

According to Forbes Magazine, this 25th year of tracking global wealth was one to remember. The 2011 Billionaires List breaks two records: total number of listees (1,210) and combined wealth ($4.5 trillion). This horde surpasses the gross domestic product of Germany, one of only six nations to have fewer billionaires this year.

Whereas, BRICs led the way: Brazil, Russia, India and China produced 108 of the 214 new names. These four nations are home to one in four members, up from one in 10 five years ago. Before this year only, the United States (U.S.) had ever produced more than 100 billionaires. China now has 115 and Russia 101.

 

Rank   Name  Net Worth      Age     Source of Money      Country of Citizenship

1          Carlos Slim Helu & family   $74 B  71      telecom         Mexico

2          Bill Gates     $56 B  55      Microsoft       United States

3          Warren Buffett       $50 B  80      Berkshire Hathaway  United States

4          Bernard Arnault      $41 B  62      LVMH  France

5          Larry Ellison $39.5 B         66      Oracle United States

6          Lakshmi Mittal        $31.1 B         60      Steel   India

7          Amancio Ortega      $31 B  74      Zara   Spain

8          Eike Batista $30 B  54      mining, oil      Brazil

9          Mukesh Ambani      $27 B  53      petrochemicals, oil & gas     India

10        Christy Walton & family     $26.5 B         56      Walmart        United States

11        Li Ka-shing   $26 B  82      Diversified     Hong Kong

12        Karl Albrecht          $25.5 B         91      Aldi     Germany

13        Stefan Persson       $24.5 B         63      H&M    Sweden

14        Vladimir Lisin          $24 B  54      Steel   Russia

15        Liliane Bettencourt $23.5 B         88      L'Oreal France

16        Sheldon Adelson     $23.3 B         77      casinos          United States

17        David Thomson & family    $23 B  53      media  Canada

18        Charles Koch          $22 B  75      Diversified     United States

18        David Koch $22 B  70      Diversified     United States

20        Jim Walton   $21.3 B         63      Walmart        United States

21        Alice Walton           $21.2 B         61      Walmart        United States

22        S. Robson Walton   $21 B  67      Walmart        United States

23        Kwok Thomas & Raymond & family         $20 B  N/A     real estate     Hong Kong

24        Larry Page   $19.8 B         37      Google United States

24        Sergey Brin $19.8 B         37      Google United States

26        Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud    $19.6 B         56      Investments   Saudi Arabia

27        Iris Fontbona & family       $19.2 B         N/A     Mining Chile

28        Lee Shau Kee         $19 B  83      real estate     Hong Kong

29        Alexei Mordashov    $18.5 B         45      Steel   Russia

30        Michael Bloomberg $18.1 B         69      Bloomberg     United States

30        Jeff Bezos   $18.1 B         47      Amazon         United States

32        Michele Ferrero & family    $18 B  84      chocolates     Italy

32        Mikhail Prokhorov   $18 B  45      Investments   Russia

34        Vladimir Potanin      $17.8 B         50      nonferrous metals    Russia

35        Alisher Usmanov     $17.7 B         57      steel, telecom, stocks         Russia

36        Azim Premji           $16.8 B         65      Software       India

36        Oleg Deripaska       $16.8 B         43      aluminum      Russia

38        Michael Otto & family        $16.6 B         67      Retail  Germany

39       German Larrea Mota Velasco & family     $16 B  57      Mining Mexico

39        Rinat Akhmetov      $16 B  44      steel, coal mines       Ukraine

39        John Paulson          $16 B  55      hedge funds   United States

42        Shashi & Ravi Ruia $15.8 B         67      Diversified     India

43        Mikhail Fridman      $15.1 B         46      oil, banking, telecom Russia

44        Michael Dell $14.6 B         46      Dell     United States

44        Susanne Klatten     $14.6 B         48      BMW, pharmaceuticals        Germany

46        Steve Ballmer        $14.5 B         54      Microsoft       United States

46        George Soros         $14.5 B         80      hedge funds   United States

48        Berthold & Theo Jr. Albrecht & family      $14.4 B         N/A     Aldi, Trader Joes       Germany

49        Birgit Rausing & family      $14 B  87      packaging      Sweden

50        Vagit Alekperov      $13.9 B         60      Lukoil  Russia

51        Aliko Dangote         $13.8 B         53      sugar, flour, cement Nigeria

52        Mark Zuckerberg    $13.5 B         26      Facebook       United States

53        Anne Cox Chambers         $13.4 B         91      Cox Enterprises        United States

53        Roman Abramovich           $13.4 B         44      steel, investments     Russia

55        Jorge Paulo Lemann          $13.3 B         71      beer    Brazil

56        Savitri Jindal & family        $13.2 B         60      Steel   India

57        Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor & family      $13 B  59      real estate     United Kingdom

57        Paul Allen     $13 B  58      Microsoft, investments        United States

57        Viktor Vekselberg   $13 B  53      oil, metals      Russia

60        Phil Knight    $12.7 B         73      Nike    United States

61        Robert Kuok          $12.5 B         87      Diversified     Malaysia

61        Carl Icahn    $12.5 B         75      leveraged buyouts    United States

63        Mohammed Al Amoudi       $12.3 B         66      oil       Saudi Arabia

64        Donald Bren           $12 B  78      real estate     United States

64        Ron Perelman        $12 B  68      leveraged buyouts    United States

66        Alberto Bailleres Gonzalez & family         $11.9 B         79      Mining Mexico

67        Francois Pinault & family    $11.5 B         74      Retail  France

68        Joseph Safra         $11.4 B         72      banking         Brazil

69        Abigail Johnson       $11.3 B         49      Fidelity United States

70        Viktor Rashnikov     $11.2 B         62      Steel   Russia

71        Leonardo Del Vecchio        $11 B  75      eyewear        Italy

72        John Fredriksen      $10.7 B         66      shipping         Cyprus

72        Stefan Quandt        $10.7 B         44      BMW   Germany

74        James Simons        $10.6 B         72      hedge funds   United States

75        Luis Carlos Sarmiento        $10.5 B         78      banking         Colombia

75        Horst Paulmann & family    $10.5 B         76      Retail  Chile

77        Nasser Al-Kharafi & family $10.4 B         67      construction   Kuwait

77        Eliodoro, Bernardo & Patricia Matte         $10.4 B         N/A     paper  Chile

79        Sammy Ofer & family       $10.3 B         89      shipping         Israel

80        Len Blavatnik         $10.1 B         53      Access Industries      United States

81        Hans Rausing         $10 B  84      packaging      Sweden

81        Ernesto Bertarelli & family $10 B  45      biotech          Switzerland

81        John Mars    $10 B  74      candy, pet food        United States

81        Jacqueline Mars      $10 B  71      candy, pet food        United States

81        Forrest Mars          $10 B  79      candy, pet food        United States

81        Klaus-Michael Kuhne         $10 B  73      shipping         Germany

81        Gautam Adani        $10 B  48      commodities, infrastructure  India

88        Iskander Makhmudov        $9.9 B 47      mining, metals, machinery   Russia

89        Johanna Quandt      $9.8 B 84      BMW   Germany

89        George Kaiser        $9.8 B 68      oil & gas, banking     United States

89        Maria-Elisabeth & Georg Schaeffler         $9.8 B N/A     ball bearings   Germany

92        German Khan         $9.6 B 49      oil, banking, telecom Russia

93        Ananda Krishnan     $9.5 B 72      telecom         Malaysia

93        Dmitry Rybolovlev   $9.5 B 44      fertilizer        Russia

95        Robin Li       $9.4 B 42      Internet         China

96        Serge Dassault & family    $9.3 B 85      aviation         France

97        Kumar Birla  $9.2 B 43      commodities   India

97        Petr Kellner $9.2 B 46      insurance       Czech Republic

99        Leonid Mikhelson     $9.1 B 55      Natural gas    Russia

100       Cheng  Yu- tung     $9 B    85      real estate     Hong Kong

 

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Shine your eyes When Two Elephants Fight FEUDING BILLIONAIRES,AND THEIR AFFECT ON YOU THe Grass

Posted by Akin Osunlaja WebLagosian on April 24, 2009 at 10:00pm
FEUDING BILLIONAIRES,AND THEIR AFFECT ON YOU Nigerians love a good fight. Even better if it's the variety that pits one moneybag against the other. It is said money-making skills usually come with a personality that exudes discipline and calm; but we are often happy to see the richest among us occasionally let down their guards and reveal they are just as passionate and temperamental as the rest of us. Yes, ready to mix it up. Such public scrapes let us know those in the monied class also have their moments of anger, that certain things make them mad and which they just won't take anymore. At those moments, the feuding rich among us are more like the touts and "agberos" of the numerous motorparks and less than the high-flying Croesus whose unfathomable wealth hold the rest of us in thrall. But big money men (and women) do not quite fight like motor park touts and "agberos". No, it is much more serious. Others will even say "deadly". One can often hang around to see how a shouting match or brawl between two or more touts in a motor park will end. If you're unfortunate, you might probably get cut by a shard of broken glass or other objects inadvertently thrown your way by one of the urchin-like gladiators. What happens when two billionaires fight? For one, you might not even know there is a major altercation underway. That is, until your life savings---and even your life---start melting away before your very eyes. This is the spectacle being inflicted on ordinary Nigerians caught in the middle of the on-going battle of wits---and wills---between billionaires Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola. Both men are the only two Nigerians among a handful of others from the African continent who have managed to make it to the authoritative Forbes magazine's list of dollar-denominated billionaires in the world. While Dangote's rating improved from 334 in 2008 to 261 this year, Otedola is a new entrant to the list. Dangote, 51, is now reportedly worth $2.5 billion, while Otedola, 42, is worth $1.2 billion. Aside from the Forbes connection, Otedola and Dangote have, until recently, enjoyed a close personal bond, which makes their present feud all the more unfathomable. Only a few years ago, it is said, the two men operated like inseparable twins. They also suckled and were extensively nurtured under the generous governmental and financial patronage of erstwhile president, Olusegun Obasanjo. Even before Obasanjo's second coming, Dangote was widely known as the scion of a rich trading family from Kano who had for decades maintained a near-monopoly on the supply of rice, sugar and cement into the vast, domestic Nigerian market. The Obasanjo Presidency and its privatization exercise brought even more opportunities for the Dangote brand. The man is now believed to have a stranglehold on the supply of these and other commodities in the Nigerian market. Those vast, new opportunities garnered during the Obasanjo dispensation surely helped a great deal to earn Dangote the honour of being named to Forbes' magazine's list of the world's richest men. But did that particular distinction also lay the groundwork for Dangote's feud with his former "BFF", Otedola? Not too long after Dangote's first Forbes appearance, a cryptic announcement came from his bosom friend, Femi Otedola, to the effect that his holding company planned to start making massive investments in companies engaged in sugar and cement production, starting with the Dangote Group. But one would have expected that Otedola, a diesel magnate, would direct his investment efforts to the Nigerian oil and gas sector, especially the profitable but capital-intensive upstream sector monopolized by multinational corporations. It has been said that Otedola started buying shares in Dangote's publicly-traded sugar company in revenge for the latter's action in preventing Otedola-owned Zenon Oil's bid to buy Chevron's local Nigerian subsidiary. However, one fears this is simply a fight ignited by a much-hyped billionaires list; a fight spurred by over-sized egos pandering to entrance and retention in the big-bucks cult of Forbes. When the announcement of Dangote's first appearance on the billionaires list was made, many must have thought the immediate danger was the opportunity created for influence-peddling by potential "Forbes brokers", both foreign and domestic, who would promise lobbying on behalf of Nigeria's tribe of billionaires to make their name appear on the list, in exchange for hefty "consultation fees". Among the billionaires themselves, the infamous Nigerian factor now appears to have crept in. Thus, an appearance on the Forbes list has now become a title to be chased and celebrated by the billionaires and their supporters alike, much like the chieftaincy and honourary doctorate titles that have become a staple of Nigeria's monied ranks in the recent past. Even the brief description of Otedola in the current Forbes list mentioned his feud with Dangote, a distinction reserved for only the two Nigerian entrants on the list! It is within this context that one locates the controversy regarding the alleged manipulation of Otedola-owned African Petroleum shares on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange by Nova Securities and Finance Limited, stockbrokers to the Dangote Group. AP had alleged that NOVA, acting on Dangote's instructions, manipulated its share's value through incessant buy and sell transactions, a situation that caused its (AP) share price to fall steeply from around N293 per share to just N50 per share within the space of eight weeks, an 82% drop and with losses to AP and its investors in the tens of billions of naira. It was further learnt during the investigation that Chairman of Nova, one Eugene Anenih, was said to have confessed his company carried out the alleged manipulation of AP shares on instructions from certain principals within the Dangote Group. Upon subsequent investigations, officials of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) suspended Nova Finance and Securities Limited from all capital market activities for breaching the rules of the Exchange in relation to the shares of AP. The Nigerian Stock Exchange further said Nova had failed to act with utmost regard to market integrity and the ethics of the stockbroking profession. It said its investigations and findings revealed Nova's dealings in that regard breached Articles 103 and 107 of the SEC's rules and regulations. These preclude the Exchange's Dealing Members from creating a false market on a specific security in order to effect a change in its price. But, should we really believe Dangote or those acting on his behalf allegedly spent so much money to manipulate shares in Otedola's flagship company and dilute its value as a payback for Otedola's bid to become a sugar and cement baron overnight? One doesn't think so. The answer, to put it simply, lies in an expensive---and extensive--- bout of ego-tripping engendered by access to the giddy world of Forbes. Think about it: if stock valuations of public companies figure so much in estimating an individual's net worth for the purpose of appearing on the Forbes' List, what better way to adversely affect that person's continued presence on the list than to manipulate the stock prices of the companies in which the (upstart) billionaire has an interest? This is probably the first time that stock manipulation and other forms of malfeances on a stock exchange will be driven not by greed and an insatiable quest for material wealth but by ego and self-aggrandizement, coupled with the need to clip someone else's "wings". Another Nigerian first! But this bout in ego-tripping comes at a very steep price. For Dangote, it is those shareholders of his publicly-held companies who will see the values of their shares plummet if the NSE and other authorities come up with further sanctions in response to the misguided onslaught allegedly launched against AP on the floor of the stock exchange. In more well-ordered climes, even the mere exposure of the manipulation allegedly orchestrated by Dangote would cause the shares of companies in the group to plummet, since sanctions against such acts usually run in the millions (or billions). Even more, this strange fight between two rather mis-matched billionaires throw up certain issues regarding shareholders' rights. One is specifically referring to the ability of shareholders in publicly-quoted companies to file shareholder derivative lawsuits under the relevant securities laws, to target mismanagement by those in control of their company. An obvious target in that regard will be owner-billionaires inclined to sacrifice the value of their companies' publicly-quoted shares in a fight over another person's net worth or appearance on the Forbes' billionaires list. When such a misguided fight ultimately and surely proves costly, either through litigation brought against the initiator-company by its adversary or sanctions imposed by authorities, then the shareholders should be empowered to recover against the "gladiator-owner or director" on behalf of the company, by pleading a breach of the duty of care. Such a duty would also run to the owner/director of the company which stock was so allegedly targeted, in this case, Otedola's AP. That is, it is not just enough for him to enter into a truce with Dangote; he must also ensure, if he has not already initiated moves to do so, that whatever settlement is arrived at between him and his erstwhile friend leads to the recovery of the value in shares lost to the alleged manipulation, and restitution for his shareholders. Failure to do this justifiably leaves Otedola open to charges of breaching the duty of care owed his shareholders, who can then seek redress by filing a derivative lawsuit on behalf of the publicly-held company. Beyond the potential reliefs to be obtained from courts, however, one feels strongly inclined to caution Nigerians who are on the Forbes list or eyeing same (or scheming to keep others off it) to check their egos when such come in conflict with the interests of shareholders in their publicly-quoted companies. Afterall, shareholders essentially "loaned" them the money raised from the capital market. Granted that these massive capital market funds have swelled some of our billionaires' coffers well enough for them to be considered worthy of mention in the prestigious Forbes List. But didn't one of these home-grown billionaires say sometime ago that you're not really a billionaire if you owe equally massive amounts of money to someone else? Like shareholders… ok conclusion if Otedola lost half a billion how do you think he would get it back,1.Increase the price of Diesel etc and other products he controls.2.The NSE if and when they pay him will have to get that money from somewhere .3.If you bought shares in AP lets just also assume you have lost big time .4.If you own any Dangote Stock Please shine your eyes . The grass effect is the worst thing that can happen in this period of economic uncertaintys.Culled and Recut from nigeria World .comments are required . Thanks
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