Billionaire investor Naushad Merali dies at 70

Businessman Naushad Merali. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Billionaire businessman Naushad Merali has died on Saturday morning at the age of 70.

A prolific investor and industrialist, Merali built a strong empire in banking, agriculture, IT and infrastructure sectors.

An old boy of Nairobi’s Highway Secondary School, Merali often shied away from the limelight.

Unknown to many, Merali made his wealth by first purchasing unprofitable companies and turning them around in his formative days as an investor.

His biggest break came in the telecoms sector when he purchased Vivendi shares as the race to control Africa’s mobile phone market became a tussle between South Africa’s MTN and Celtel.

He reached out to his billionaire friend Mohammed Ibrahim, the chairman of Celtel. He exercised his pre-emptive rights and brought Celtel on board.

With Dr Ibrahim’s help, he put Sh18.4 billion on the table. An hour later, he sold some shares and made a profit of Sh1.6 billion.

His tenure saw him shrink his shares to five per cent (Bharti Airtel Kenya) in 2013. He also added $150 million (Sh13.7 billion) to his wealth and later retired as chairman in 2013.

Sameer Group #ticker:SMER, named after his son, is perhaps his most known company.

He bought the Firestone US stake in Firestone East Africa in 1985 with bank loans, rebranded the well-known tyre brand into Yana Tyres and made a fortune when the company was floated on the Nairobi Stock (now Securities) Exchange.