Saudi billionaire to invest $3.4bn in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, February 28, 2012

Saudi billionaire Mohammed Al- Amoudi plans to invest 59 billion birr ($3.4 billion) in seven industrial projects in Ethiopia over the next five years,  a Bloomberg report said.

Derba Group, an amalgam of three Ethiopian companies owned by Al-Amoudi, has already invested 12 billion birr of a planned 71 billion birr in agriculture and cement in Ethiopia, chief executive officer Haile Assegide was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

“The balance will be invested in the next five-year period,” said Haile. Derba’s cement, steel, agriculture and transport operations may generate annual revenue of 41 billion birr and create more than 370,000 jobs, he said.

Ethiopian-born Al-Amoudi is ranked by Forbes magazine as the world’s 63rd-richest person and was worth $12.3 billion in March. His construction company, Midroc, built the $30 billion underground oil storage facility in the kingdom in the late 1980s, according to the magazine.

Tags: cement | agriculture | Saudi | billionaire | Al Amoudi |