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South African billionaire bank founder Michiel Le Roux has seen his net worth skyrocket by more than $141.4 million in the past 27 days, as shares in South Africa’s leading retail banking group, Capitec Bank, soar by 8.4 percent.
Le Roux, who founded Capitec Bank, one of South Africa’s largest retail banks, about 21 years ago, holds a substantial 11.41-percent stake amounting to 13,190,043 shares in the Stellenbosch-based banking group.
The multimillion-dollar surge in his net worth since Dec. 21, 2021 can be linked to a surge in the market value of his stake, as shares in Capitec Bank soared above the $138-per-share mark.
As of afternoon, Jan. 17, shares in the group were worth R2,132.12 ($138.57) per share, 1.91-percent lower than their opening price on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange that morning.
At that price, the market value of Le Roux’s stake is worth more than $1.82 billion, while the bank’s market capitalization is $16.4 billion.
Shares in the bank have increased from a price of R1,967.16 ($127.85) at the closing of trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Dec. 21, 2021 to R2,132.12 ($$138.57) at the time of drafting this report.
This translates to an 8.4-percent gain for the bank’s shareholders since December 2021.
As a result of the price bump, the market value of Le Roux’s stake has increased from N25.95 billion ($1.69 billion) to R2.18 billion ($1.83 billion) between Dec. 21, 2021 and Jan. 17. This led to a total R2.18-billion ($141.41 million) gain for the billionaire in the past 27 days.
In an effort to protect his stake in Capitec from downside risks and leverage it to secure debt funding, Le Roux executed hedging and financing transactions on 1.25 million shares in Capitec Bank against the volatility in the stock market.
The businessman completed the collar transaction in four tranches between August and December. At the current market price, the transaction is worth R2.5 billion ($157.2 million).
