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Sawiris to Invest in Venezuela: Bloomberg


Tue 12 Feb 2019 | 03:31 PM
Nawal Sayed

By Nawal Sayed

CAIRO, Feb. 12 (SEE) - Egyptian

billionaire Naguib Sawiris said he would invest in Venezuela “anytime” after President

Nicolas Maduro leaves office. He stressed that Maduro “starves his own people,

he starves the whole country, he ruined the country,”

“He should leave," Sawiris told

Bloomberg Television in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

The Venezuelan leader has held on

for years in the face of protests, a collapsed economy and international

sanctions through a tight grip on the military and by cracking down on the

opposition.

The $5 billion- net worth billionaire,

according to Bloomberg’s Rich list, has invested across emerging markets and in

some developed nations throughout his career, including setting up a

mobile-phone operator in North Korea.

He said on Tuesday that he sees

opportunities in Africa and other Latin American countries, including Brazil

and Argentina.

One exception is Italy, where

Sawiris said he could deploy $300 million as the government mulls selling

state-owned properties. “The government sits on one of the most lucrative

real-estate assets in the world.”

Sawiris first ventured into Italy in

2005, when he bought mobile-phone provider Wind in what was Europe’s biggest

leveraged buyout at the time, according to Bloomberg's report.

“I had a very good experience,” he

said. “I was treated fairly. All doors were open for a foreign investor from

Egypt. I will never forget this.”

Sawiris owns stakes in gold mines

through his closely held company, La Mancha Resources. He told Bloomberg last

year that he had invested half of his net worth in gold. “I am continuing to

invest in gold,” he said.