Revealed: The World's 10 Richest Arabs

1.

• Industry:
  Banking and finance
• Country:
  Saudi Arabia
• Value (US$):
  (25bn)

HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud - (25bn)

Now aged 60, the career of Saudi Arabia’s most famous businessman, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud, has been built on making money — plenty of it. But last year, he made global headlines for very different reasons. In July, at a press conference in Kingdom Tower in Riyadh, the prince told reporters that he would be giving his entire fortune to charity. “It is a commitment without boundaries. A commitment to all mankind,” he said. The sum will go to the Alwaleed Foundation over an indefinite period of time. Meanwhile, the prince has said that he now has an added incentive to get back to doing what he does best — racking up the profits.

That being said, it hasn’t been the easiest year for the world’s richest people, with six out of the top ten losing money during the course of 2015. Prince Alwaleed has seen the value of his wealth decline over the last 12 months, to $25.1bn. As ever, our assessment of Prince Alwaleed’s net worth has been verified by his private office.

But he is certainly been busy. Earlier this month, Prince Alwaleed invested $100m in US ride-sharing app Lyft, just the latest in a series of investments in the technology sphere that include stakes in Apple. And in December, the prince exchanged a stake in Fairmont Hotels for a 5.8 percent slice of French hotel giant Accor.

The majority of the prince’s wealth comes from his 95 percent stake in Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), which is valued at $12.79bn as per January 11.

KHC’s investments include stakes in American lender Citigroup, Canary Wharf London developer Songbird Estates, Jeddah Economic Company (which is developing the 1km tower in Jeddah that will be the tallest in the world), Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts, New York’s The Plaza Hotel, London’s Savoy Hotel, Paris’ Four Seasons George V Hotel, Saudi carrier flynas, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Disneyland Paris.

However, he also has other sources of wealth, including his media arm (which includes Rotana), as well as his many private investments and privately held assets. His real estate portfolio has also increased in value over the course of the last year.

2.

• Industry:
  Banking and finance
• Country:
  Brazil (Lebanon)
• Value (US$):
  (12bn)

Joseph Safra - (12bn)

Widely regarded as the world’s richest banker, 77-year-old Joseph Safra’s appetite for deal-making remains undiminished. Recent purchases include 'The Gherkin’ tower in the City of London and fruit giant Chiquita. The former adds to the impressive real estate portfolio held by Safra’s eponymously titled group, which includes the 660 Madison Avenue building in New York, prime locations in SoHo and about 100 other prime locations around the planet. The Lebanese-born banker runs the Brazilian banking and investment empire, Safra Group. Born into a wealthy banking family, the Safra history originated with the camel trade between Aleppo, Alexandria and Istanbul during the days of the Ottoman empire. The Beirut family decided to move to Brazil in 1952, and in 1955, Joseph’s brother and father began financing assets in Sao Paulo. Joseph Safra founded Banco Safra in 1955, and it remains one of the largest private banks in Brazil, with nearly $60bn in assets. He also oversees Switzerland-based J Safra Sarasin, which oversees $141bn in assets.

3.

• Industry:
  Diversified
• Country:
  Saudi Arabia
• Value (US$):
  (11bn)

The Olayan family - (11bn)

Dropping down a spot this year is the Olayan family, which runs the huge Saudi conglomerate Olayan Group. One of the largest shareholders in Credit Suisse, the group has cut its holdings in the Swiss investment banking giant over the course of the last year to 4.95 percent. It also has stakes in the UK’s National Grid and an estimated $700m property portfolio in Paris. But its overseas interests only form part of the family’s colossal portfolio — much of which is based back home in Saudi Arabia. Olayan Group oversees about 50 affiliated companies, with offices on three continents and a workforce of 15,000, and it also manages over $4bn in Saudi equities. The firm has a joint venture with the Weir Group to manufacture oilfield equipment, and it also has the franchise rights for Burger King in the Middle East and North Africa region. Olayan Group was founded by Suleiman Olayan in 1947. Suleiman is survived by son Khaled and his three daughters, Lubna (pictured), Hutham and Hayat.

4.

• Industry:
  Diversified
• Country:
  Egypt
• Value (US$):
  (10bn)

The Sawiris family - (10bn)

It has been another busy year for Egypt’s richest family. Naguib Sawiris, in particular, hit the headlines due to his efforts to create a local investment bank able to match the might of EFG-Hermes, the largest in the Middle East. Along with his firm Orascom, Sawiris bought Beltone Financial and is in the process of making a $127m bid to acquire CI Capital from Commercial International Bank. Not to be outdone, Nassef is also hard at work driving change at companies he invests in, with rumours suggesting a possible takeover of German sportswear giant Adidas (in which he already holds a 6 percent stake). As the CEO of Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), Nassef also announced a plan in February to dual-list the firm in Dubai and Cairo. Ever since Onsi, the patriarch of the Sawiris family, handed over the reins to Naguib (above), his eldest son, and two brothers Nassef and Samih, their fortunes have expanded rapidly. They expanded the Orascom conglomerate into a telecoms, construction, hotel and development business. Naguib launched Egypt’s first mobile operator, Mobinil, back in 1998.

5.

• Industry:
  Diversified
• Country:
  Saudi Arabia
• Value (US$):
  (9bn)

Issam Al Zahid - (9bn)

Issam Al Zahid runs one of Saudi Arabia’s largest diversified conglomerates, the Alzahid Group of Companies, which is privately owned by him and his family. Alzahid Group got its start in 1951 under the banner Alzahid Construction, when it had a hand in smaller-scale planning of roads and other city infrastructure. Later it would be tapped to build the kingdom’s first coast guard stations. By 1958, the company was in full swing, building everything from bridges to tunnels and flyovers — indeed much of the basic transport infrastructure upon which the kingdom still relies. Today, with offices located in Al Khobar, the diversified conglomerate has over 41,000 employees and has significant interests in mining, logistics, oil and gas, manufacturing, information technology, foodstuffs, retail and many other sectors. In recent years, it has set up further subsidiaries in areas as diverse as agriculture, aviation and medicine, and has plans to invest heavily in the oil and gas sector.

6.

• Industry:
  Energy
• Country:
  Saudi Arabia
• Value (US$):
  (9bn)

Mohammed Al Amoudi - (9bn)

From Sweden to Ethiopia, Mohammed Al Amoudi’s collection of industrial assets is considerable. Al Amoudi emigrated to Saudi Arabia in 1965 and became a Saudi citizen. He made his first fortune in construction and real estate before branching out into buying oil refineries in Morocco and Sweden and his native Ethiopia. His holding and operating companies, Corral Group and the MIDROC Group, employ more than 760,000 people. Corral Group has an investment portfolio in Europe and the Middle East that includes Preem Petroleum, the largest integrated petroleum firm in Sweden, Svenska Petroleum & Exploration, SAMIR, Naft Services Company (Saudi Arabia) and Fortuna Holdings (Lebanon).

7.

• Industry:
  Diversified
• Country:
  UK (Saudi Arabia)
• Value (US$):
  (9bn)

Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber - (9bn)

Mohamed bin Issa Al Jaber’s net worth could have doubled in December, if the result of a $10bn suit against the UK’s Barclays Bank had gone his way. Instead, a British judge ruled that a claim by Jadawel, one of Al Jaber’s firms, about the lender’s allegedly fraudulent attempts to gain a Saudi banking licence was out of date. Still, Al Jaber remains one of the richest men in Britain thanks to a 35-year track record building the MBI International Holding Group into an established collection of major international companies. Those include: JJW Hotels & Resorts, which owns and operates luxury hotels in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa; Jadawel, a Middle Eastern property development outfit; and Continentoil, an oilfield services company. Al Jaber is also a shareholder in Ajwa Group for Food Industries, an agricultural and food processing firm. A well-known philanthropist, Al Jaber’s MBI Al Jaber Foundation funds scholarship programmes at some of the world’s top  

8.

• Industry:
  Construction
• Country:
  Saudi Arabia
• Value (US$):
  (8bn)

The Binladin family - (8bn)

It’s been a difficult year for the Binladin family, which runs the Gulf’s most famous construction unit. Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) may work on some of Saudi Arabia’s top projects, including King Abdullah Economic City, the Haramain rail link and work on the Grand Mosque in Makkah, but a disaster at the latter last year has left it in a difficult position. In September, a crane collapse at the Grand Mosque killed 107 people, leading the government to suspend the company from taking new contracts. Later reports suggested the firm was planning to slice 15,000 staff from its mammoth 200,000 strong workforce. The group will be hoping for a more prosperous 2016. The family fortune is based on a construction business that paid immense dividends when decades ago it was awarded contracts for major renovations in Makkah and other religious buildings in Saudi Arabia and abroad. Founded by Mohammed Binladin, the family also built several palaces in Riyadh and Jeddah for the royal family and carried out restoration work following an arson attack on Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque in 1969. Salem, Mohammed’s eldest son, ran the empire left behind by his father upon his death in 1968 until he died when his private plane crashed in Texas in 1988. Thirteen of Mohammed’s sons sit on the board of the family’s firm — the most prominent being Bakr, Hassan, Islam and Yehya.

9.

• Industry:
  Banking and finance
• Country:
  UAE
• Value (US$):
  (8bn)

The Al Ghurair family - (8bn)

The highest entry in the UAE comes in the form of the Al Ghurair family, which has seen its fortunes rise alongside the growth of Dubai. Abdulla Al Ghurair, the founder/owner of Mashreq Bank and the head of the family firm, announced last year that he will be donating $1bn over the next five years to an educational fund set up in his name. The family legacy can be traced back to Ahmad Al Ghurair who founded Al Ghurair Group in 1960. Ahmad passed on his legacy to his sons Saif, Abdulla, Majid, Marwan and Jomaa. Until the 1990s Al Ghurair Group was led by Saif Ahmad Al Ghurair. This corporation was formed in 1960. In the 1990s, Saif Ahmad Al Ghurair and Abdulla Al Ghurair embarked upon creating two unique yet complementing diversified industrial groups. This decision led to the creation of Saif Ahmad Al Ghurair Group (now the Al Ghurair Group) and Abdulla Al Ghurair Group. Perhaps the most prominent family member today is Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair (pictured), the CEO of Mashreq Bank, which was started from scratch with $1.6m of capital during the oil boom in the 1960s, and which is the country’s fourth-largest by assets. Mashreq has a strong hold in its home market of the UAE (where one in every two households bank with the lender) but it also operates in a number of other countries in the region, including Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. Abdul Aziz is also chairman of the UAE Banking Federation.

10.

• Industry:
  Diversified
• Country:
  Kuwait
• Value (US$):
  (7bn)

The Al Kharafi family - (7bn)

The passing away of Jassem Al Kharafi, the Kharafi Group’s chairman, means there is a new man at the helm of one of the Gulf’s largest family concerns. Brother Fawzi Al Kharafi now runs the firm, which has an annual turnover of around $5bn and is already active in 25 countries. The group has been in the news recently over the potential sale of Americana, one of its most high-profile assets. The family is believed to be interested in selling off two thirds of the fast food giant, which has a market value of around $4bn, although the deal fell through in early 2015. The Kharafi Group has operations in 25 countries around the world, from Senegal to Botswana to Kazakhstan and the Maldives, and has more than 120,000 employees. The family business has always had strong connections with Egypt, from power stations along the Nile Delta to contracts at Marsa Alam International Airport. Run by Fawzi, Marzouk, Badr (pictured) and Faisal Al Kharafi, the company also has investments in a series of major Gulf blue-chips, including Zain.