Monday, 4 March 2013

Revealed:World's Richest Black Black Woman Folorunsho Alakija Owns N18.4b UK Property

Nigerian oil baroness, Folorunsho Alakija, owns five apartments in London’s One Hyde Park, the world’s most expensive apartment block, it has been revealed.

In its latest issue out at the weekend, American lifestyle magazine, Vanity Fair ran a report in which it listed Alakija as one of the apartment owners in the 6,000 pounds-per-square-feet One Hyde Park.

The report is the outcome of a six-month long investigation by Zurich-based investigative reporter and expert on tax havens, Nicholas Shaxson.

Other apartment owners in the upmarket One Hyde Park include owner of Ukranian football club, Shaktar Donesk, Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man and One Hyde Park’s wealthiest, whose property is valued at $215.9 million. Next to Akhmetov is Nigeria’s Alakija.

According to the magazine, the five apartments owned by Alakija’s Rose of Sharon 4, a company registered in the Isle of Man, were bought at a combined fee of $123 million (N18.4billion).

The publication noted most of the apartment owners in the London property have tried to conceal their identities by using entities based in offshore tax havens to buy their homes.
Alakija, who Forbes rated ‘world’s richest black woman’ last year, is believed to worth a combined $3.3 billion, according to Ventures Africa, a business magazine.

A self-made billionairess and business tycoon, Alakija’s business interests span oil, printing and fashion.

Alakija sits atop The Rose of Sharon Group which comprises The Rose of Sharon Prints & Promotions Limited and Digital Reality Prints Limited; and she is the Executive Vice Chairman of Famfa Oil Limited, which is into oil exploration.

-PM News

On the other hand many pundits have expressed censure over the glorification of Mrs Alakija's wealth. They allege that she was gifted an oil block by the Abacha Junta, hence didn't work to earn the 'billionaire' title which she is so called today. My own question is: has she been giving back to the society out of the abundance of her wealth?

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