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South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe is the latest businessman to add a luxury wine farm to his portfolio after purchasing a farm in Hidden Valley, a region near Stellenbosch and Somerset, South Africa.
According to News24, the 28-hectare farm was listed for sale at R160 million, but the mining tycoon purchased it for between R100 million ($5.5 million) and R120 million ($7.9 million) in cash.
The billionaire paid more for the property than former Capitec Chairperson and Founder Riaan Stassen did in 2015, when the property was first purchased.
According to experts, his acquisition is good news for the South African wine industry, because his inclusion will make it easier to promote the wine segment to a larger population due to his strong influence and profile in African society.
“This will be good in terms of advertising the brand and making it more attractive other markets,” Wines of South Africa Communications Manager Maryna Calow said.
“This could build strong relationships between Gauteng and Stellenbosch. It will also grow the tourism industry in that area,” she added.
Motsepe is a serial investor and a leading billionaire industrialist with interests in top companies spread across key sectors of the South African economy.
His fortune, valued at more than $3 billion, ranks him third among South Africa’s billionaires. He derives the majority of his fortune from African Rainbow Minerals, the South African mining company he founded in 1997, as well as the broad-based empowerment group, Ubuntu-Botho.
His mining company recently revealed plans to acquire the Bokoni platinum mine for R3.5 billion ($220 million) in cash nearly a month ago. It also intends to invest R5.3 billion ($334 million) per year in the operation’s development.
ARM stated that the acquisition will transform the company into a “significant” global primary PGM manufacturer, with an annual target of more than 1.2 metric ounces (on a 100-percent basis) and 650,000 ounces (on an attributable basis) by 2026.
The company paid Motsepe a dividend of R1.8 billion ($126.2 million) in 2021.
