Article in the FT this morning about Nassef Sawiris. Mainly about his plans for OCI where the majority of his wealth is if anyone is interested. We are mentioned in passing.:
From London and Abu Dhabi, Sawiris is building NNS into a holding company that can manage his various investments — including Aston Villa. He and US billionaire Wes Edens, co-founder of Fortress Investment Group, acquired a 55 per cent stake in the club for £30mn in 2018, rescuing it from financial crisis. A year later it was promoted to the lucrative Premier League and Sawiris has since expanded his stable of sports assets under his and Edens’ V Sports, including a stake in Portuguese club Vitória. The group announced in December that US investor Atairos had become a minority partner in V Sports, with people familiar with the matter saying the roughly 20 per cent stake valued Aston Villa at more than £500mn. While Sawiris’ bet appears to be paying off, he insisted he was not in Aston Villa for the money. “Anybody who does football and says this is a pure investment, in 95 per cent of the case he’s a liar,” Sawiris said. “It’s a passion. It’s addictive. And it can ruin your weekend and go into the following week.” Recommended ESG investing Why investors failed to embrace Jeff Ubben’s Inclusive Capital He said owning the club had helped change his perspective on what it takes to be successful in business and in sport. “You really come to the conclusion that attitude and work ethic beats talent any day.” His interest in sports extends beyond club ownership. He is a top shareholder in Adidas and a member of its supervisory board.
Egypt’s richest man Nassef Sawiris considers breaking up his empire (ft.com)