Mauritian businessman Arnaud Dalais loses $2.66 million in 34 days as CIEL Limited shares fall

Omokolade Ajayi -

Mauritian businessman Arnaud Dalais has suffered a loss of MUR116.5 million ($2.66 million) from his stake in CIEL Limited in the past 34 days, as shares in the Mauritius-based conglomerate slumped by double digits on the local bourse.

CIEL is a broad-based Mauritian conglomerate with active operations and investments in more than 10 emerging and developing economies across Africa and Asia. Its investments are spread across five business clusters through the operations of its subsidiaries.

Arnaud Dalais, who is the chairman of the Mauritian conglomerate, holds a beneficial stake amounting to 135,464,460 ordinary shares in the broad-based conglomerate.

The $2.66-million loss in his stake was underpinned by bearish sentiment on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius, as investors trimmed down their positions in CIEL despite the impressive financial performance that it reported at the end of its 2021 financial year.

As of press time, Dec. 17, shares in CIEL were trading at MUR6.16 ($0.1405), unchanged from their opening price this morning, as bullish and bearish pressures were evenly balanced out.

At the end of its 2021 financial year, the conglomerate posted MUR446 million ($10.45 million) in profit, as earnings rebounded from its bland performance in 2020.

Compared to last year’s figures, its full-year profit for the 2021 financial period increased by 121.5 percent from a MUR2.18-billion ($51.2 million) loss in 2020 to a MUR446-million ($10.45 million) profit.

The resilient financial performance failed to impress investors, who trimmed down their positions in the Mauritius-based conglomerate.

The sell-off caused shares in CIEL to slump by more than 12 percent from MUR7.02 ($0.1602) per share on Nov. 13 to MUR6.16 ($0.1405) per share as of the time of the writing of this report.

The decline in the conglomerate’s stake caused the market value of Dalais’ stake to drope from MUR951 million ($21.7 million) to MUR834.5 million ($19.04 million) on Dec. 17. This translates to a MUR116.5-million ($2.66 million) loss for the multimillionaire businessman in 34 days.