Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris loses $450 million in February as shares in Adidas slump

Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris has seen his net worth slump by $450 million since the start of February, as the market value of his stake in the German sportswear behemoth Adidas dropped by millions of dollars in less than 30 days.

Sawiris, Egypt’s richest man and one of Africa’s most prominent billionaire businesspeople, had a net worth of $6.5 billion at the start of February thanks to his investments in Adidas and his 30-percent share in publicly traded fertilizer giant, OCI N.V.

His beneficial stake in Adidas, Europe’s largest sportswear firm and the world’s second-largest sports brand, accounts for the majority of his fortune, which has declined dramatically in value since the beginning of February.

Since the start of business and trading in February, his fortune has fallen by $450 million, owing to a double-digit percentage decline in Adidas shares, as a global financial asset sell-off fueled by the Russia-Ukraine crisis and other geopolitical tensions negatively impacted market sentiment.

Sawiris’ net worth has dropped from $6.5 billion on Feb. 1 to $6.05 billion as of the time of writing this article, Mon., Feb. 28. This is due to a 12.3-percent decrease in the share price of Adidas, since the beginning of February.

The multimillion-dollar decline in the market value of his stake in February extends his year-to-date net-worth loss to $461 million.

Despite the recent drop in his net worth below $6.5 billion, Sawiris remains Egypt’s richest man, with a total fortune of $6.05 billion.

Apart from remaining one of Africa’s wealthiest billionaires, Sawiris’ current net worth makes him the 445th richest individual in the world.

His most valuable asset, a 3.75-percent investment in Adidas, is worth $2.86 billion, while his 30-percent stake in OCI N.V, a fertilizer manufacturer located in the Netherlands, is worth $1.93 billion.

As of the time of writing, just $275 million of his fortune was in cash.