Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal remains the richest Arab with an estimated net worth of $18.7 billion, according to the Forbes Middle East.

Forbes Middle East unveils in its April issue its 2017 rankings of the World’s Richest Arabs and the Arab World’s Richest Families.

Prince Alwaleed’s wealth grew by $1.4 billion from last year, it said.

For the first time, the UAE’s Majid Al Futtaim lands in the number two spot at $10.6 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Al Amoudi who’s worth $8.1 billion, according to the Forbes.

There are two new entrants: Qatar’s former Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, who has an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion. He holds a 3 per cent stake in Deutsche Bank; and Mohammed Serafi, one of the largest individual investors in the Saudi stock market, with a net worth of $1 billion. He has shares in real estate company Taiba Holding and Makkah Construction and Development Company, among others.

Khuloud Al Omian, editor in chief of Forbes Middle East, said: “With a mild recovery in crude prices and the region’s stock markets bouncing back from the lows of 2016, it has been a good year for the region’s billionaires.”

With 10 billionaires, Saudi Arabia claims the highest number of billionaires with an aggregate net worth of $42 billion, followed by Lebanon and Egypt with seven billionaires each. Emirati billionaires are worth a combined $22 billion.

The top 10 Arab billionaires are: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud  ($18.7bn – Saudi Arabia); Majid Al Futtaim and family ($10.6bn – UAE); Mohammed Al Amoudi ($8.1bn – Saudi Arabia); Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Ghurair & family ($6.8bn – UAE); Nassef Sawiris ($5.6bn – Egypt); Suhail Bahwan ($4.1bn – Oman); Abdulla Al Futtaim ($4.1bn – UAE); Naguib Sawiris ($3.9bn – Egypt); Prince Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saudi Al Kabeer ($3.8bn – Saudi Arabia); Hussain Sajwani ($3.7bn – UAE).

In addition, Forbes Middle East came out with its second annual ranking of the Arab World’s Richest Families. Three out of the 12 families are self-made—the Alajlans, Alagils and Al Subeaeis. The rest inherited their wealth. All are from the Gulf.

Saudi Arabia has the highest number of billionaire families, with an aggregate net worth of $25.7 billion. The Olayans top the list with $8 billion worth of publicly-traded holdings, followed by the Alshayas and Abudawoods, who have a net worth estimated at $5 billion and $4 billion, respectively. Most families made their fortune by holding licenses to international brands.

Methodology
Estimates are a snapshot of wealth based on stock prices as of February 17, 2017, for individual billionaires and March 8, 2017 for families, where siblings or heirs own shares in the same company that add up to a minimum of $1 billion. To value private assets, Forbes applies comparable price-to-sales or price-to-earnings ratios to revenues or net earnings. Although he is a native of India, Forbes ranks PNC Menon under Oman, since he is a citizen of that country.

http://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/en/list/the-worlds-richest-arabs-2017/
http://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/en/list/arab-worlds-richest-families/