Africa’s richest man to open Dubai family office

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest man with a net worth of $13 billion, is the latest high net worth individual to establish a family office in Dubai.

The family office will focus on global investments to expand the Dangote Group’s portfolio beyond industrials, Bloomberg reported, quoting Dangote.

The office will also explore co-investment opportunities with families, companies, or institutions offering specialised expertise in various sectors and companies.

The Nigerian billionaire, ranked 168th on the Bloomberg Billionaires index, has made money from commodity businesses and recently opened a $20 billion oil refinery in the African country.

His daughter, Halima, relocated to Dubai in August to oversee the operations of the company based in the emirate, the report said.

While most of Dangote’s assets are in Nigeria and other regions of Africa, his holding company is based overseas, driven by the weakness of the Nigerian naira, which has fallen by more than 50 percent over the past year.

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Dangote is one of the backers of Alterra Capital Partners, an Africa-focused private equity fund spun out of Carlyle Group last year.

The African billionaire joins the likes of US private equity investor Leon Black, Egyptian tycoon Nassef Sawiris, Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, India’s Adani family and hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio who have set up offices in the UAE recently.

Wealthy individuals in North America and Asia are increasingly investigating setting up family offices in the Middle East as they seek to take advantage of the growth opportunities in the region and the Gulf’s desire to increase foreign direct investment.

“The number of family offices in the Middle East is predicted to grow rapidly over the coming years, with Dubai attracting the most attention, due to its cosmopolitan character and favourable tax and investment offering,” said Richard Nunn, family enterprise leader at Deloitte Private Middle East.