Nassef Sawiris, an Egyptian millionaire, is no stranger to football investing. He garnered international attention in 2018 when he bought shares in English football team Aston Villa.
After settling on a 46 percent interest in Vitoria Sport Clube, a Portuguese professional football team competing in the Primeira Liga, Sawiris is again in the news five years later.
According to Billionaire Africa, he bought the 46 percent ownership through his holding firm V Sports. Sawiris’ aspirations to increase his football portfolio are also represented by the $5.85 million transaction.
The Egyptian billionaire claimed the cooperation between V Sports and Vitoria Sport Clube has been in action for two years while speaking about the most recent agreement.
He declared: “V Sports is thrilled to be partnering with Vitoria Sport Clube. Discussions that have been going on for almost two years have advanced thanks to the positive steps taken by the new management team led by Antonio Miguel Cardoso, whose energy and vision have been a crucial component in reaching this agreement.”
In addition to the $5.85 million from the sale of the shares, Sawiris will also spend $2.13 million in club infrastructure and pay $21.3 million to assist the club’s operations, according to Vitoria Sport Clube President Antonio Miguel Cardoso.
One of the biggest manufacturers of nitrogen fertilizer in the world, Sawiris is the chairman of Orascom Construction Industries. It has facilities in Texas and Iowa, and its stock is traded on the bourses of Euronext Amsterdam.
Engineering and construction contractor Orascom Construction is run by Orascom Construction Industries. One of the biggest companies in the engineering and construction industry in the Middle East, the company trades on the Cairo and Nasdaq Dubai bourses.
A 7% ownership share in Adidas is one of his most valuable assets. Also, he purchased a 5% investment in Madison Square Garden Sports, which owns the New York Knicks, Rangers, Liberty, Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League, and the Westchester Knicks. This company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He also has stock in the industry leader in cement, Lafarge Holcim.
He has a $7.3 billion net worth. He was declared the richest Arab billionaire in the world by Forbes Middle East in 2021.
The second son of Nassef Sawiris’s family. He completed his secondary education at the prestigious Deutsche Evangelische Oberschule Kairo in Dokki, Giza, Egypt, which is part of the Cairo metropolitan area. Thereafter, he enrolled at the University of Chicago, where he graduated in economics with a bachelor’s degree in 1982.