After De Beers: Oppenheimer's Fortune Rises to $13.2bn

(IDEX Online) - Nicky Oppenheimer, who sold his stake in De Beers in 2012, saw his fortune rise by $1.65bn last year, to $13.2bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Anglo American paid $5.2bn for the Oppenheimer family's 40 per cent stake in the diamond miner. Anglo is currently trying to sell the loss-making company, as it focuses and copper and other more profitable mining sectors.

Anglo has written down the value of De Beers multiple times due to poor market conditions.

Experts value Anglo's 85 per cent stake in De Beers at no more than $3bn to $4bn. The remaining 15 per cent is owned by the Botswana government.

Oppenheimer, aged 80, (pictured) lives in South Africa and maintains private equity investments in Africa, Asia, the US and Europe through London-based Stockdale Street and Johannesburg-based Tana Africa Capital.

He is ranked as the third-richest person in Africa behind Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote ($29.3bn) and fellow South African Johann Rupert, ($17.0bn) chairman of the Swiss luxury goods firm Compagnie Financiere Richemont.