FB Roundup: Teddy Sagi, Bill Gates, Strive Masiyiwa
Teddy Sagi launches £1.5 billion sale of London’s Camden Market
Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi has initiated a discreet sale of London’s Camden Market, hoping to gather bids of more than £1.5 billion for the area famed for its stalls, bars and eateries.
According to The Financial Times, Sagi has appointed financial adviser Rothschild & Co to deal with the sale.
The 16-acre estate is one of London’s busiest tourist attractions and includes housing and office spaces, as well as Stables Market, Camden Lock Market and Buck Street Market.
Sagi, who founded gambling software company Playtech, first acquired Stables Market in 2014 for £400 million from a consortium headed up by property developer Chelsfield and restaurateur Richard Caring. Sagi latterly purchased Camden Lock Market from private equity firm Brockton Capital for around £90 million.
The estate, which is run by Sagi’s portfolio company LabTech, had previously been put up for sale in 2019, but was withdrawn due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now back on the market, Sagi is hoping for a profitable sale, thanks in part to an influx of large brands, leisure businesses and a new indoor funfair called Babylon Park
Bill Gates vows to drop off world's rich list
Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has pledged again to give most of his vast wealth away and vowing that he will eventually “drop off” the world's richest list.
Gates made the promise as he made a further $20 billion donation to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Currently the world's fourth richest man, Gates said he had an “Obligation to return my resources to society.”
“As I look to the future, I plan to give virtually all of my wealth to the foundation,” he said in a statement. “I will move down and eventually off of the list of the world's richest people.
“I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for reducing suffering and improving lives. And I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up in this moment too.”
Gates first pledged to give away much of his wealth in 2010, however his net worth has more than doubled in the intervening years - he is now currently worth $118 billion, according to Forbes.
In a Twitter post, Gates said the foundation would increase its spending from $6 billion a year to $9 billion by 2026 spurred on by “Global setbacks” including the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the climate crisis.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which also has the backing of billionaire investor Warren Buffett amongst others and is now the largest private donor to the World Health Organisation, was set up in 2000 to help eradicate disease such as Malaria, improve global education and eradicate poor sanitation.
Zimbabwe’s richest man Strive Masiyiwa raising $500 million in digital business expansion
Billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, the richest man in Zimbabwe, plans to raise up to $500 million as part of a digital infrastructure and services business strategy that hopes to become Africa’s leading digital services and solutions provider.
Masiyiwa’s Cassava Technologies recently signed a deal with London-based, specialist venture-capital firm C5 Capital to raise an initial $50 million, which is part of a larger funding round to accelerate the company’s growth.
"This investment from C5 is part of our plan to raise additional growth capital while diversifying our investor base,” said Masiyiwa. “We are delighted that C5 has joined us to help realise our vision of a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind."
“We are delighted to partner with Cassava Technologies, to bring the most innovative cybersecurity, space and energy security products and services to African markets,” said André Pienaar, the chief executive officer of C5 Capital. “Following the launch of Cassava Technologies’ cutting-edge cybersecurity Security Operations Centre (SOC) planned for Johannesburg later this year, we see tremendous growth potential for Cassava Technologies’ cybersecurity business to help protect African enterprises and communities.”
The raised funds will be used to expand Cassava Technologies operations, including 110,000km of fibre optic cabling, cloud computing, nine data centres and an additional ten data centres planned over a three-year period.
