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South Africa’s second richest man Nicky Oppenheimer has seen his net worth increase by $150 million in 16 days. This comes on the back of gains from investments in his private equity firms.
The $150-million net-worth gain translates to an average profit of $9.375 million daily for the billionaire investor, who sold his family’s 40-percent stake in De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer.
The billionaire maintains private equity investments in Africa, Asia, the United States and Europe through the London-based Stockdale Street and Johannesburg-based Tana Africa Capital.
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index revealed that his net worth increased from $7.85 billion to $8.00 billion between June 20 and July 6.
Oppenheimer’s net worth has been on the rise since Q2 2020 after it fell to a record low of $5.8 billion in March 2020 on the back of a massive sell off on the global equity market, as investors exited their positions internationally in listed companies.
His net worth has risen by $850 million this year, reducing the gap between his estimated wealth and that of South Africa’s richest man Johann Rupert to $1.91 billion.
Oppenheimer is the third generation of the Oppenheimer family to run DeBeers, the world’s largest diamond producer. The South African billionaire sold his family’s 40-percent stake in the company in 2012 to mining giant Anglo American for $5.2 billion in cash, ending his family’s 80-year ownership of De Beers.
In addition to the $5.2 billion, he also earned $390 million in dividends from Anglo American when he sold De Beers. According to Bloomberg, Oppenheimer is South Africa’s second-richest man with a net worth of $8 billion. Rupert maintains the top spot with a net worth of $9.91 billion.
