18:06:09   www.africaoilgasreport.com

The credit crunch punched large holes in the pockets of Africa’s richest men, as an analysis of the Forbes list shows...

Africa’s richest dollar billionaires lost over 32 billion dollars in 2008, as the global financial crisis sapped corporate and personal wealth from Abuja to Abu Dhabi.
On their own alone, the Sawirises of Egypt, the continent’s richest family, lost 27 Billion dollars, to go by simple comparison of the wealth ascribed to them on the Forbes list in 2008 and 2009. Naguib Sawiris, who was for several years the richest African alive, has become much poorer, losing almost 10 billion dollars in the global financial meltdown that peaked in late 2008. His net worth fell from $12.7 billion in 2008 to $3billion in 2009, according to Forbes’ annual rankings of the world’s top billionaires. The Sawirises, a Coptic Christian Family from the town of Sohag in Upper Egypt.
Onsi Sawiris, 79, father of Naguib, Samih and Nassef, who is the creator of the Sawiris fortune and patriarch of the brood, lost $7.4 billion to the financial hurricane that swept through the world’s business landscape. He’s number 430 in the Forbes’ billionaires ranking, with 1.7 billion in assets, down from 9.1 billion last year and No 96 on the list.
Samih Sawiris, 51, reported to be worth $2.9billion in 2008, and ranked 369th on the list, has dropped out. Which means that he’s not worth up to a billion dollars, the floor of the list. Also out of the 2009 ranking is Patrice Motsepe, who was heralded in 2008, as the first black South African to show up on the list.
Nassef Sawiris, 47 and 196th in the 2009 list is worth $3.1 billion, down from $11 billion in 2008
Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote shed just $800 million of his reported fortune. Now he nets $2.5Billion (from 2008’s $3.3 billion), but  he moved up on the list to 261st position, from 334th in 2008. It is an indication that, with wealth destruction all around, it’s a lot to be worth over $2 billion.
The newest black African on the list is Femi Otedola, the 42 year old petroleum product supplier from Lagos, the Nigerian business capital. Forbes estimates his current worth at $1.2 billion
The leading white South African family on the list persists. The Oppeinheimers, led by third generation Diamond miner and merchant Nicky Oppeinheimer moved from the 173rd position in 2008 to 98th position in 2009, even though they lost $700 million in one year, settling on $5billion.
Another white South African family on the list is Johann Rupert and Family, who lost $2.6 billion dollars in 2008 and managed to stay on the list with a net worth of $1.2billion.
The only African on the 2008 list that has been spared the effects of the crunch is the Ethiopian born Mohammed Al Amoudi. He has moved up 54 spots from the No 97 in 2008 to Number 43 in 2009, even though his networth remains estimated at $.9 billion for both years.

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