TRAGEDY AND DRAMA STRIKE THE RICHEST
▶ A death and a kidnapping overshadow the financial fortunes of the world’s billionaires
In our fortnightly round-up of billionaires, we follow the stories of what’s next for the Benetton clothing group, after the company’s main architect Gilberto died; and in Tanzania, Africa’s youngest billionaire Mohammed Dewji survived a kidnapping.
Gilberto Benetton
The death of Gilberto Benetton, the mastermind of the family’s diversification beyond jumpers into infrastructures, restaurants and financial companies, poses a succession issue for the Italian billionaire clan. Benetton co-founded the namesake clothing more than 50 years ago with his siblings Luciano and Giuliana, as well as Carlo, who passed away in July.
The four had equal stakes in its main holding company, Edizione, and there is a lack of an obvious successor to Gilberto, who amassed a net worth of about $2.5bn.
The 77-year-old executive died last month at his home in Treviso, Italy, following a brief illness, according to a statement from his family.
While his older brother Luciano, 83, has always been directly involved with Benetton Group and returned last year at the helm of the fashion chain to revamp its struggling business, Gilberto was the main architect of the family’s expansion beyond the clothing industry. He helped create Edizione, which controls investments in highway operator Atlantia, and Autogrill, which runs roadside rest-stop eateries.
Edizione, which had a net asset value of €12bn (Dh50.13) at the end of June, is facing one of its most difficult moments.
After a bridge its Atlantia unit operates in Genoa collapsed and killed more than 40 people, the family’s stake in the company lost more than €2bn of value.
While the Benettons already opted in the last few years for non-family members such as former Telecom Italia chief executive Marco Patuano to run Edizione, Gilberto was still the family’s most important voice in deciding investments and strategy. He served as Edizione’s vice chairman under chairman Fabio Cerchiai.
“He was a man of extraordinary value and rare entrepreneurial vision,” Patuano and Cerchiai said in a statement. “His capacity to foresee economic and social developments guided Edizione into its most important strategic choices.”
Now the family may be discussing who should succeed him. Luciano’s son Alessandro has been the prominent figure of the second generation and is well-known among investors.
Mohammed Dewji
Tanzanian tycoon Mohammed Dewji, who was kidnapped in October was released and had returned home safely.
“I thank Allah that I have returned home safe and sound,” Mr Dewji told a press conference in Dar es Salaam, where he was abducted on October 11 as he entered a hotel gym.
Appearing strained and exhausted, he thanked the “Tanzanian authorities, including the police, who worked for my return.”
Tanzanian police said they had identified the driver of a vehicle used in the kidnapping and were making progress in their investigation.
The family had offered a reward of half a million dollars for information that would help police find him.
Tanzania national police chief Simon Sirro told the press conference that Mr Dewji had already provided some information about the kidnapping.
“Mohammed Dewji told us that the kidnappers wanted money but were very afraid, even though they were armed. He asked them several times how much they wanted but they gave no figure,” Mr Sirro said.
Dar es Salaam police chief Lazaro Mambosasa said that Mr Dewji had indicated to him that his abductors spoke a southern African language, confirming suspicions that the kidnappers were foreigners. They had eventually released him at the same hotel complex where he had been abducted. From there, he had made his way to his home, where police interviewed him.
Africa’s youngest billionaire, Mr Dewji, 43, heads the MeTL Group which operates in about 10 countries with interests in agriculture to insurance, transport, logistics and the food industry.
He was born in Tanzania and studied at Georgetown University in the United States. He also served as a member of parliament from 2005 to 2015.
In 2013, he became the first Tanzanian to be on the cover of Forbes magazine and was named Forbes Africa Person of the Year in 2015.
According to Forbes he is 17th on the list of Africa’s billionaires, and worth $1.5 billion.
Philip Green
Philip Green, the billionaire owner of the Topshop clothing chain, was named in Parliament as the British businessman alleged to have used legal agreements and payments to hide accusations of sexual harassment, racist abuse and bullying – an allegation he denies.
Peter Hain told the House of Lords last month that he felt it was his “duty” to reveal the name under parliamentary privilege after being contacted by someone involved in the case.
The accusations are the latest in the #MeToo movement that has implicated high-ranking officials and businessmen for allegedly harassing and abusing women.
Mr Green, of fashion empire Arcadia Group, denied the allegations in an emailed statement sent from a spokesman.
“I am not commenting on anything that has happened in court or was said in Parliament today. To the extent that it is suggested that I have been guilty of unlawful sexual or racist behaviour, I categorically and wholly deny these allegations,” according to the statement. “Arcadia and I take accusations and grievances from employees very seriously and in the event that one is raised, it is thoroughly investigated.”
Worth about $2.7bn, Mr Green has also been embroiled in scandal for years over his management of the UK department-store chain BHS. He netted a fortune in dividends from the company while the employee pension fund was hundreds of millions of pounds in the red. In 2015, Mr Green sold the troubled business for one pound to a former race-car driver with no previous retail experience. The company subsequently collapsed.
Lawmakers unsuccessfully demanded revocation of Mr Green’s knighthood, calling him the “unacceptable face of capitalism.” In 2017, he agreed to pay as much as £363m (Dh77.23m) to fund his former employees’ pensions.