Billionaire puts half his wealth into gold

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris has put half his $5.7 billion empire into gold amid fears of a potential economic crash

Speaking to Bloomberg Sawiris said he’d put 50% of his networth into gold because he saw a return to the price of five years ago when gold traded in the region of $1,700 – $1,800 a troy ounce. He also pointed to a number of crises around the world, particularly in the Middle East that could see the price of the safe haven asset rise.

Dismissing the suggestion such an allocation represented a short-term bet on commodities as a whole Sawiris mention his stake in gold mine and belief in the value of gold long term.

Sawiris, is the son of developer and founder of Orascom Onsi Sawiris and notable for his investment in Telcoms throughout the Middle East as well as his investments in North Korea.

Despite a rally of the dollar ahead of an expected interest rate announcement by the Federal Reserve, the price of gold has ticked up to 0.5 percent at $1,309.71 as Chinese buyers returned from the May Day holiday.

Sawiris pointed to continued Chinese consumption of gold as one of the reasons he had put so much of his fortune into the yellow metal. Additionally, the “overvalued” nature of the stockmarket made him cautious elsewhere.

“I feel that stockmarkets are overvalued and that another crash, somehow, will happen. That’s why I’m in gold.”