How Forbes' Estimate Of Isabel Dos Santos' Fortune Grew From $500M to $3B In Less Than A Year

Angola's ruling family (from left):
Jose Eduardo dos Santos, daughter Isabel,
her husband Sindika Dokolo, and first lady
Ana Paula dos Santos
(Photo credit: Bruno Fonseca, EPA/Newscom)

In November 2012, Forbes listed the net worth of Isabel dos Santos, the eldest daughter of Angola’s president, at $500 million. In an article published on Wednesday, we estimated her net worth at $3 billion.  Did her fortune really grow six-fold in less than a year? The short answer: No.

Some billionaires really do skyrocket at that rate over the course of a year. In Isabel dos Santos’ case, it was a matter of coming up with evidence that she owned the assets various people had gossiped about.

For the 2012 Forbes list of Africa’s 40 Richest, I could only find proof of her Portuguese shareholdings – primarily stakes in cable TV company ZON Multimedia and Banco BPI  , which together were worth about $500 million. By January 2013, with help from Angolan journalist Rafael Marques de Morais, I had gathered enough evidence to call her a billionaire, adding stakes in a bank in Angola and a low estimate of her chunk of UNITEL, the country’s leading mobile phone network. By the time Forbes published our annual billionaires’ list in March, we counted the full value of  her 25% in UNITEL –worth $1 billion– which helped push her net worth to an estimated $2 billion.

 

For the recent Forbes magazine article, Angolan journalist Rafael Marques de Morais connected the dots between Angolan state oil company Sonangol, Portuguese billionaire Americo Amorim, a Swiss-registered holding company called Exem Holding, and Isabel’s estimated 6.9% stake in Portuguese oil company GALP. 

That asset, combined with some dividends and a rising stock price at ZON, pushed Isabel dos Santos’ estimated net worth up by another $1 billion to $3 billion. She may have even more assets that could push up her net worth. If we find more, we’ll make that clear.

A spokesman for Isabel dos Santos insisted that she paid for the assets in all the companies she owns pieces of using proceeds from her earlier business ventures, but he would not provide specifics. “Mrs. Isabel dos Santos is an independent business woman, and a private investor representing solely her own interests. Her investments in Angolan and/or in Portuguese companies are transparent and have been conducted through arms-length transactions involving external entities such as reputed banks and law firms,” the spokesman said.

Despite years of combing public documents in Angola, my co-author Rafael Marques de Morais could not find public records showing how much Isabel dos Santos paid for her stakes – records that are typically published in the government’s Daily Gazette.

Watchdog organizations like Global Witness have written about missing assets and murky dealings in Angola in the past. “The looting of the Angolan state by a corrupt elite is a tragedy for the Angolan people. The country’s oil and mining sector continues to be opaque and riven with corruption,” says Global Witness campaigner Barnaby Pace. “In deals for the state’s natural resources it must be clear exactly what payments are being made, to whom and for what; also, who won the deal, how they won it, and who ultimately stands to profit. Only when this is achieved will Angolan citizens be able to hold their leaders to account.”

In Angola, Isabel dos Santos has the reputation of a more serious business person than some of her siblings do, says Marissa Moorman, a professor at Indiana University and an expert on Angola. The siblings are known for being involved with lighter-weight endeavors –glossy magazines or music projects, rather than Isabel’s stakes in the leading mobile phone network, a large bank, the country’s cement company and, previously, the Angolan diamond business. “She’s both respected and feared as a business person,” says Moorman, who lived in Angola for 10 months in 2010 and 2011. Isabel dos Santos is known for having good people skills, and even went on the Angolan equivalent of the Jay Leno show, Moorman added.

What do most Angolans think about her vast wealth? Says Moorman: “I don’t think anyone’s naïve about where her wealth came from.”