CFI Top 40 Billionaires in Emerging Markets 2012

The list is dominated by billionaires from the BRIC economies (65% out of the total number of billionaires).

Of these, the Russian (and one Ukrainian) makes up more than half of the billionaires from BRIC economies and 38% of the total. They almost all made their fortunes in steel, mining and oil.

Latin America (represented by Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Colombia) has one in four of the world’s top 40 emerging markets billionaires.

The populous China (including Hong Kong) and India makes up a further 23% of the billionaires.

The Middle East and Africa only represents 10% of the list.

The richest on the list with $74 billion in net worth made his initial fortune primarily in mobile telecom. However, the single Malaysian representative was the only other billionaire to advance through telecom. The majority of the top 40 billionaire’s monies appear to have been made in steel, mining and oil. The boom in the prices and world-wide demand for commodities have translated into extraordinary successes for some and created the majority of the top new billionaires from emerging markets.

Still, many of the billionaires have made their monies from “old fashioned style” finance, including banking, investments, real estate and diversified holdings.

Top 5: C. Helu, L. Mittal, E. Batista, M. Ambani, L. Ka-shing

Table 2: CFI Top 40 Billionaires in Emerging Markets 2012

Rank Name Wealth Age Industry Country
1 Carlos Slim Helu & Family $74 B 72 Telecom Mexico
2 Lakshmi Mittal $31.1 B 61 Steel India
3 Eike Batista $30 B 55 Mining, oil Brazil
4 Mukesh Ambani $27 B 54 Petrochemicals, oil & gas India
5 Li Ka-shing $26 B 83 Diversified Hong Kong
6 Vladimir Lisin $24 B 55 Steel Russia
7 Thomas & Raymond Kwok & family $20 B N/A Real estate Hong Kong
8 Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud $19.6 B 56 Investments Saudi Arabia
9 Iris Fontbona & family $19.2 B N/A Mining Chile
10 Lee Shau Kee $19 B 84 Real estate Hong Kong
11 Alexei Mordashov $18.5 B 46 Steel Russia
12 Mikhail Prokhorov $18 B 46 Investments Russia
13 Vladimir Potanin $17.8 B 51 Nonferrous metals Russia
14 Alisher Usmanov $17.7 B 58 Steel, telecom, stocks Russia
15 Azim Premji $16.8 B 66 Software India
16 Oleg Deripaska $16.8 B 44 Aluminum Russia
17 Rinat Akhmetov $16 B 45 Steel, coal mines Ukraine
18 German Larrea Mota Velasco & family $16 B 58 Mining Mexico
19 Shashi & Ravi Ruia $15.8 B 68 Diversified India
20 Mikhail Fridman $15.1 B 47 Oil, banking, telecom Russia
21 Vagit Alekperov $13.9 B 61 Oil Russia
22 Aliko Dangote $13.8 B 54 Sugar, flour, cement Nigeria
23 Roman Abramovich $13.4 B 45 Steel, investments Russia
24 Jorge Paulo Lemann $13.3 B 72 Beer Brazil
25 Savitri Jindal & family $13.2 B 61 Steel India
26 Viktor Vekselberg $13 B 54 Oil, metals Russia
27 Robert Kuok $12.5 B 88 Diversified Malaysia
28 Mohammed Al Amoudi $12.3 B 67 Oil Saudi Arabia
29 Alberto Bailleres Gonzalez & family $11.9 B 80 Mining Mexico
30 Joseph Safra $11.4 B 73 Banking Brazil
31 Viktor Rashnikov $11.2 B 63 Steel Russia
32 Luis Carlos Sarmiento $10.5 B 79 Banking Colombia
33 Horst Paulmann & family $10.5 B 77 Retail Chile
34 Nasser Al-Kharafi & family $10.4 B 68 Construction Kuwait
35 Eliodoro, Bernardo & Patricia Matte $10.4 B N/A Paper Chile
36 Gautam Adani $10 B 49 Commodities, infrastructure India
37 Iskander Makhmudov $9.9 B 48 Mining, metals, machinery Russia
38 German Khan $9.6 B 50 Oil, banking, telecom Russia
39 Dmitry Rybolovlev $9.5 B 45 Fertilizer Russia
40 Ananda Krishnan $9.5 B 73 Telecom Malaysia

Source: CFI, Forbes, Other

CFI

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