Photos: The World's Richest Arabs 2014 (Part 1)

For only the second time that Arabian Business has attempted to assess the wealth of the world's richest Arabs, the combined total of their net worth actually dropped during the course of the last 12 months. It has been no small drop, either, with the sum dropping by 3.9 percent to $255.86bn, the lowest total since 2010.

The last time this figure fell was back in 2008, largely as a result of the credit crunch in the US. So what's driving the drop this time? Well, yet again, it appears that forces outside the Gulf are to blame. For our number-one entry, it has again been a strong year, but the performance of the US stock markets - in which Prince Alwaleed is a major investor - have resulted in a $3.1bn hit to his net worth. That decline accounts for roughly a third of the total drop in the fortunes of the Arab world's wealthiest people.

However, Prince Alwaleed still remains by far and away the wealthiest figure on the list, with Saudi Arabia's Olayan family placing second with $12bn. The prince may be approaching his 60th birthday next year, but it is hard to see him being overtaken any time in the next decade.
Elsewhere, many of the usual suspects have had a strong year, with particular gains coming from the UAE's Majid Al Futtaim and Brazilian-Lebanese banker Joseph Safra.
Our highest new entry this year is Hussein Sajwani, the man behind Damac Group. The listing of Damac Properties in the London Stock Exchange earlier this year has allowed us to finally gain a true assessment of his wealth - which we conservatively estimate at $4bn.
As with previous years, some entries have dropped out of the 2013 list for various reasons, including the relinquishing of key roles from organisations, which has made it increasingly difficult to keep track of their wealth.
So who made the cut?

Prince Alwaleedof Saudi Arabia

1. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud$28.1bn ($31.2bn)Banking and financeSaudi ArabiaEleven years of the Arabian Business Rich List and eleven consecutive years at the very top for HRH Prince Alwaleed. A remarkable and consistent performance that we are unlikely to see repeated by anyone for generations to come.The majority of the prince’s wealth comes from his 95 percent stake in the publicly listed Kingdom Holding Company (KHC). The company’s share price has fallen by 20 percent over the past year, giving it a market capitalisation (on 2 December) of $17.48bn. However his total wealth in 2014 only fell slightly: this is largely down to the strong performances from the other sources of his wealth, primarily his media arm (which includes Rotana) and his many private investments and privately held assets. There has also been a significant rise in the value of his real estate. In total, his non-Kingdom Holding fortune now tops $11bn.But it is Kingdom Holding that the prince remains best known for on the business stage. Today the company has major interests in investment categories ranging from hotel management companies and real estate to media and publishing, entertainment, finance and investment services, social media and technology, consumer and retail, petrochemicals, education, private equities, healthcare, aviation — even agriculture. He has stakes in global brands such as Apple, Twitter, Citigroup, News Corp, Fox and PepsiCo, while this year he scored a huge hit with his stake in Chinese online retailer JD.com which listed on the NASDAQ.Next year sees HRH turn 60, but all the signs are that one of the world’s most successful ever investors remains as active as ever, searching for the next mega-deal.

2. The Olayan family$12bn ($12.5bn)DiversifiedSaudi ArabiaIIn second place this year is the Olayan family, which runs the huge Saudi conglomerate, the Olayan Group. It has been a particularly active year for the company, which has acquired significant real estate assets in Europe and the US. Those include eight pieces of property in Paris and nine separate apartment communities in Maryland. In addition, the Olayan Group also bought a majority stake in Gulf Union Foods Company, a fruit juice maker. Elsewhere, the firm confirmed that it would also be taking a lead role in the development of King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) as a smart city.Now in its 67th year of operations, the Olayan Group has come a long way since the summer of 1947 when Suleiman S Olayan launched his first business in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. While still private and closely held, the group he founded has blossomed over the decades into a multinational enterprise with offices on three continents, and 15, 000 people employed by 50 affiliated companies. Its main investment portfolio covers public and private equities, real estate, fixed income securities and other specialised assets. Suleiman is survived by his son Khaled and his three daughters — Hayat, Hutham and Lubna (pictured).

3. Joseph Safra$11.9bn ($7.5bn)Banking and financeBrazil (Lebanon)Joseph Safra hit the headlines (again) last month when he bought the Gherkin tower, one of London’s most recognisable landmarks. The Lebanese-born banker currently runs the Brazilian banking and investment empire, Safra Group. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, into a wealthy banking family, the family’s history in banking originated with caravan trade between Aleppo, Alexandria and Istanbul during the days of the Ottoman Empire.The Lebanese family decided to move to Brazil in 1952. In 1955, Joseph’s 23-year-old brother, Edmond Safra, and his father, Jacob Safra, started working in Brazil by financing assets in São Paulo. Joseph Safra founded Banco Safra in 1955 and today it is reportedly the sixth largest private bank in Brazil. He remains the chairman of the Safra Group offering banking services throughout Europe, North and South America. Safra also owns the 660 Madison Avenue building in New York.

4. The Sawiris family$11.3bn ($10bn)DiversifiedEgyptIt’s all go for the various members of Egypt’s richest family, who are putting their money where their collective mouths are in helping to redevelop their home country. Naguib Sawiris has announced plans to invest over $1bn in Egyptian construction, real estate, agriculture and microfinance. Not to be outdone, Nassef Sawiris announced last month that his Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) conglomerate would also be boosting investments in the country. Ever since Onsi, the patriarch of the family handed over the reins to Naguib, his eldest son and two brothers Nassef and Samih (pictured), their fortunes have rocketed. They took over and expanded the Orascom conglomerate into a telecommunications, construction, hotel and development business. Naguib launched the first mobile operator in Egypt, Mobinil in 1998.

6. Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber$9.2bn ($12.66bn)DiversifiedUK (Saudi Arabia)rominent Arab philanthropist and businessman Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber has spent the last 34 years building the MBI International Holding Group Inc into an established collection of major international companies. Following a steady stream of investments into existing businesses during 2012, the group saw 2013 as the perfect time to invest in a series of new acquisitions and expand its activities. For the last two decades, Mohamed Al Jaber has been an active philanthropist, funding scholarship programmes at some of the world’s finest educational institutions through his own MBI Al Jaber Foundation. Some of the projects run and supported by the Foundation are: the launch of the MBI Media Institute in Yemen; Human Rights Watch in the Arab World; and the provision of the MBI Al Jaber Building at SOAS for the London Middle East Institute.

7. Mohammed Al Amoudi$9bn ($12bn)EnergySaudi ArabiaOne of the Arab world’s most successful businessmen, Mohammed Al Amoudi emigrated to Saudi Arabia in 1965 and became a Saudi citizen, and is said to be the largest foreign investor in both Sweden and Ethiopia. Al Amoudi made his first fortune in construction and real estate before branching out into buying oil refineries in Morocco and Sweden and his native Ethiopia. His holding and operating companies, Corral Group and the MIDROC Group, employ more than 760,000 people. Corral Group has an investment portfolio in Europe and the Middle East that includes Preem Petroleum, the largest integrated petroleum firm in Sweden, Svenska Petroleum & Exploration, SAMIR, Naft Services Company (Saudi Arabia) and Fortuna Holdings (Lebanon).

9. The Kharafi family$8.3bn ($8.5bn)DiversifiedKuwaitKuwaiti family conglomerate the Kharafi Group, which has an annual turnover of around $5bn and is already active in 25 countries, has been in the news recently over the potential sale of Americana, one of its most high-profile assets. The family is believed to be interested in selling off two thirds of the fast food giant, which has a market value of around $4bn. The Kharafi Group has operations in 25 countries around the world, from Senegal to Botswana to Kazakhstan and The Maldives, and has more than 120,000 employees. The family business has always had strong connections with Egypt, from power stations along the Nile Delta to contracts at Marsa Alam International Airport. Run by Jassem, Marzouk Badr and Faisal Al Kharafi, the company also has investments in a series of major Gulf blue-chips, including Zain.

11. The Al Ghurair family$7bn ($6.3bn)DiversifiedUAEThe name Al Ghurair has become 

synonymous with the growth of Dubai. Abdullah Al Ghurair runs one of the emirate’s largest family concerns, with interests in agricultural commodities, banking, real estate, malls and refineries. The family legacy can be traced back to Ahmad Al Ghurair who founded Al Ghurair Group in 1960. The family name has been a fixture within the UAE business community ever since. Ahmad Al Ghurair passed on his legacy to his sons Saif, Abdulla, Majid, Marwan and Jomaa. Until the 1990s Al Ghurair Group was led by Saif Ahmad Al Ghurair. This corporation was formed in 1960. In the 1990s, Saif Ahmad Al Ghurair and Abdulla Al Ghurair embarked upon creating two unique yet complementing diversified industrial groups. This decision led to the creation of Saif Ahmad Al Ghurair Group (now the Al Ghurair Group) and Abdulla Al Ghurair Group. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair (pictured) is CEO of Mashreq Bank, which he started from scratch with $1.6m of capital during the oil boom in the 1960s, and which is the country’s fourth-largest by assets. Mashreq has a strong hold in its home market of the UAE (where one in every two households bank with the lender) but it also operates in a number of other countries in the region, including Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.

12. The Bukhamseen family$6.4bn ($6.8bn)DiversifiedKuwaitJawad Ahmed Bukhamseen founded the Bukhamseen Group back in 1957, and the closely held family giant has gone from strength to strength ever since. From banking to hospitality, and from media to industry, the group has also introduced big-name western brands to the country. In 1977, the company signed the first Holiday Inn Hotel in the Middle East, and later signed Kuwait’s Crowne Plaza. Bukhamseen has plans to build a wholly-owned Grand Hyatt Hotel and Towers complex, which is designed to be a seven-star hotel. Today, Jawad’s sons Emad (pictured), Osama, Anwar and Raed all occupy senior management positions within the company. Bukhamseen Holding’s Kuwait National Cinema Company also established Al Sharqia Cinema, the first movie theatre in Kuwait, in 1954.

14. The Kanoo family$6bn ($6.1bn)DiversifiedBahrainIt has been a sad year for the Kanoo Group, one of the largest and oldest family firms in the Gulf. In August, the group’s chairman, Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo, passed away, aged 72. He had led the company since the death of Abdulla Ali Kanoo four years ago.Established in Bahrain in 1890 by Haji Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo, it has grown from its early trading and shipping business to become one of the most diversified and highly regarded business houses in the Gulf region and beyond. Mubarak Jassim Kanoo is now chairman of the firm, while Mishal Kanoo (above), one of the region’s most recognisable executives, remains as deputy chairman of the group’s UAE and Oman division. It now has 14 divisions in total, and employs 4,000 staff, with another 6,000 employed in its various joint venture operations. The company’s joint venture division was established over 25 years ago and has been linked to high profile names such as Axa Insurance, Norwich Union, Maersk and BASF.

Watch out for the second part!