Tunisian tycoon Mehdi Tamarziste suffers $2-million loss in just 3 weeks

Tunisian banker and multimillionaire businessman Mehdi Tamarziste has witnessed a significant decline amounting to millions of dollars from his stake in Union for Commerce and Industry (UBCI), a Tunisia-based banking group.

According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, Tamarziste’s shares in UBCI have decreased in value by TND6.47 million ($2.05 million) in the past three weeks as investors on the local bourse trimmed down their stakes in the Tunisia-based lender.

UBCI is a commercial bank based in Tunis, Tunisia’s largest city and capital. It operates as a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, a French international banking group ranked as the largest bank in Europe and the seventh-largest globally in terms of assets.

Tamarziste owns a 12.9-percent stake in the bank through his business entity, Tamarziste Group. The stake accounts for a significant 2,589,213 ordinary shares in the Tunis-based lender, making him one of the country’s richest investors.

In recent times, the bank’s shares have decreased from TND23 ($7.291) per share on Sept. 1 to TND20.50 ($6.501) at the time of writing this report. The decrease translates to a substantial 10.87-percent loss for the shareholders in the past three weeks.

As a result of the recent slump in the group’s shares on the Tunis Stock Exchange, the market value of Tamarziste’s stake in the banking group has declined from TND59.55 million ($18.88 million) on Sept. 1 to TND53.08 million ($16.83 million) at the time of writing this report.

This translates to a financial loss of TND6.47 million ($2.05 million) for the Tunisian businessman in the past three weeks. Despite the recent slump in the market value of his stake, Tamarziste remains one of the country’s richest businessmen.