Johann Rupert – About The Second Richest Man In Africa

Johann Rupert is the main shareholder of the Richemont group, the world’s second-largest luxury group. He is ranked the richest in South Africa and the second richest in Afrihttps://www.naijanews.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpca thanks to his many properties in watchmaking, haute couture and jewellery, the most famous of which are Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Piaget, Dunhill and Lancel.

After studying law and economics, Johann Rupert left South Africa for New York where he began a career with the bank “Chase Manhattan” then joined the investment bank “Lazard”. On his return to South Africa in 1979, he founded his own establishment, the “Rand Merchant Bank”, a bank whose base he strengthened through very diversified acquisitions.

In 1985, he became managing director of “Rembrandt”, the family company founded by his father, Anton Rupert. Established in wines and spirits as well as in tobacco with a stake in British American Tobacco, Rembrandt merged in 1997 with Rothmans then in 2002 with British American Tobacco.

In 1987, fearing retentions against companies linked to apartheid, he separated South African assets from foreign assets. The latter constitute the Richemont company, a group which generated 4.827 billion euros in annual turnover in 2006-2007.

In 2002, Johann Rupert took over the reins of the Richemont group. He then had many ambitions for his group, but the attacks of September 11 and the economic slump that ensued compromised the development of the group and pushed Johann Rupert to abandon his chair as CEO of the group.

His other holdings include Remgro, a Stellenbosch, South Africa-based investment vehicle with stakes in more than 30 companies.

In 2012, Rupert was fourth on Africa’s richest list, with $5.1 billion to his name, however, within the last ten years, Rupert’s wealth has grown 105.8%.

Rupert’s gain in a decade has seen the billionaire take the second position behind Africa’s richest person, Aliko Dangote, after adding $5.4 billion to his fortune, which is now placed at $10.5 billion by Forbes Billionaire Index.

According to Bloomberg, Johann Rupert is worth an estimated $12 billion.