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Swazi billionaire businessman Nathan “Natie” Kirsh has now lost nearly half a billion dollars since the start of 2022 due to the revaluation of his investments held through Kirsh Group.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Kirsh’s net worth has dropped by $480 million since the start of the year, from $8.27 billion at the start of 2022 to $7.79 billion at the time of drafting this report.
The half-billion-dollar drop in his net worth this year can be attributed to the sustained decline in the value of his investments in the U.S. retail and consumer goods industries, as he joins a long list of African billionaires whose wealth has declined noticeably since the start of the year, including Johann Rupert, Patrice Motsepe, and Mohammed Al-Amoudi.
The majority of Kirsh’s fortune stems from a 75-percent stake in Jetro Holdings, a New York-based company that manages two wholesale grocery businesses in the United States: Jetro Cash & Carry and Restaurant Depot.
According to Bloomberg, the value of these sister companies is calculated using the average enterprise value-to-sales multiple of four publicly traded peer companies: Costco Wholesale, Kroger, Metro, and Loblaw Companies.
Despite the drop in his net worth in April, Kirsh remains Eswatini’s (formerly Swaziland’s) richest man and one of Africa’s wealthiest billionaires, with a fortune of nearly $8 billion at the time of writing. He is presently the world’s 259th richest man.
In addition to his stake in Jetro Holdings, Kirsh owns 54 percent of Sydney-based Abacus Property Group, a publicly-traded real estate investment trust.
The billionaire also owns property on four continents, including Tower 42, London’s first office skyscraper, and Jandakot Airport in Perth, Australia.
Tower 42, one of London’s tallest landmark skyscrapers, is worth $373 million at the time of writing.
