Aliko Dangote
In line with his goal to become one of the five wealthiest people in the world in four year's time, Aliko Dangote kept faith with his target last week, when he moved up 18 places on the Forbes magazine Rich List to emerge the 25th richest man in the world.
With the share price of his flagship Dangote Cement Plc skyrocketing to N191 per share by the close of trading last Friday on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the business mogul saw his personal networth correspondingly inch up to $20 billion, making him the first African to hit the $20 billion mark.
With a current market capitalisation of $20.5 billion, Dangote Cement has also become the first Nigerian company to achieve a market capitalisation of over $20 billion.
The US-based Forbes magazine reported that Dangote’s 93 per cent stake in the cement company is now worth $19.5 billion.
Added to this are his controlling stakes in other publicly-listed companies like Dangote Sugar and National Salt Company of Nigeria, as well as his significant shareholdings in other blue-chips like Zenith Bank Plc, UBA Group and Dangote Flour Plc; his extensive real estate portfolio, jets, yachts and current cash position, which includes more than $300 million in recently awarded Dangote Cement dividend, making Dangote’s personal networth exceed $20 billion.
To put it in the right context, Forbes reported that the billionaire is now among the top 25 richest people in the world.
With his fortune, Dangote is richer than Russia’s richest man, Alisher Usmanov, richer than India’s Lakshmi Mittal and running neck and neck with India’s Mukesh Ambani.
He is also snapping on the heels of such Americans as Google’s billionaire founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Dangote Cement recently recorded an unprecedented surge in its share price largely due to the market’s response to the company’s impressive results in the first quarter of this year.
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