Nigeria’s Oil Magnate Femi Otedola was named as the highest gainer among African Billionaires in 2015. According to Forbes, which tracks Africa and the world’s top billionaires revealed the Chairman of Forte Oil saw his fortunes rise by a whopping 75% at the end of 2015 to $1.81 billion from $778 million a year earlier.
How he made the list
According to Forbes Femi Otedola saw his fortunes rise on the back of the performance of his company Forte Oil Plc on the Nigerian stock exchange. Forte Oil, a quoted integrated energy company in Nigeria ended 2015 with a 45% gain and was the third highest gainer for the year on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Forte has now gained about 73% in the last one year according to Bloomberg data and continue to rise. In contrast, the Nigerian All Share Index and the Oil and Gas Index posted returns of -17.3% and -6.2% in 2015. Otedola is thought to own about 70% of Forte Oil Plc.
Just 5 years ago, Forte Oil was trading for about N18 and has now risen 1733% to its closing price of N330 Tuesday, January 5th. The company’s revival started when Femi Otedola led a group of investors to take over African Petroleum which they subsequently renamed Forte Oil. The company is now a major downstream player in the oil and gas space and in 2013 acquired a power plant following a successful bid for the former government asset.
Aliko Dangote continues to top the Forbes richest list and is still Africa’s richest man with a net worth of about $16.7 billion
