Beny Steinmetz

Beny Steinmetz
Born 1956
Netanya, Israel
Residence Geneva, Switzerland
Nationality Israeli
Occupation Businessman
Known for Diamonds engineering real estate
Net worth Increase US$ 3.5 billion (June 2014)
Children 4

Beny Steinmetz (Hebrew: בני שטיינמץ‎‎; born 1956) is an Israeli businessman, with a portfolio in diamond-mining, engineering and real estate.[1][2][3]

Early life

Beny Steinmetz was born in Netanya, Israel in 1956, the fourth child of Rubin Steinmetz.[4] He inherited the Geneva-based Steinmetz Diamond Group from his father.[1]

Beny Steinmetz Group Resources

Steinmetz along with his brother Daniel founded what subsequently became known as Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR). Beny currently occupies an advisory role to the company's Board of Directors.[3] In March 2014, the Swiss daily Le Temps reported that Beny Steinmetz had sold shares in the Steinmetz Diamond Group (SDG) to his brother Daniel.[5][6]

BSGR in Guinea controversy

In December 2008, a three-year exploration permit for Simandou Blocks 1 & 2, in The Republic of Guinea, was awarded to BSGR Guinea, after the government of Guinea, under its then president, General Lansana Conté, ordered that it be relinquished by its previous holder, the British-Australian multinational mining company Rio Tinto Group.[7][8][9] Conté signed over the rights to mine the northern half of Simandou, days before he died, to Steinmetz for $160 million. Steinmetz then soon sold a 51% share on to Vale for $2.5 billion.[10]

Koidu Holdings, which formerly operated as a joint venture, has been wholly owned by the BSGR company since 2007.[11][12] In 1997, he founded STI Ventures NV, a venture capital firm that invests in start-up companies in Israel.[13] In 1999, he was the owner of Tucows.[14] BSGR and another investment firm, IMR, also control Cunico. A now-defunct company, of which he was a founder and shareholder, Nikanor Plc, listed in London, was acquired by Katanga Mining in 2008.[15] With his company called Scorpio, he owns real estate in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Eastern Europe.[1][2]

The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI have been investigating BSGR's acquisition of the rights to extract half of the iron ore deposits at Simandou, Guinea, due to concerns about corruption and bribery.[9][16][17][18] In April 2014 the Guinean government announced that it had "precise and coherent evidence" that BSGR had obtained the Simandou mining rights by paying bribes to the wife of then president Lansana Conté in 2008, and that the rights would be stripped from BSGR and its partner Vale S.A..[19] Rio Tinto then filed suit against Steinmetz, BSGR and Vale alleging that they had devised a RICO scheme to steal "Rio Tinto's valuable mining rights".[20] Steinmetz subsequently hired former FBI director Louis Freeh, defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom as part of his defense team.[21]

In November 2015 U.S. District Judge Richard Berman ruled that Rio exceeded the statute of limitations when filing their claim against BSGR in 2014 and that the company failed to identify a pattern of racketeering activity by the defendants.[22]

In mid-November 2016 Alan Davies, head of the Rio department responsible for Simandou, was suspended due to an investigation into the lawfulness of Rio's payment to Francois de Combert[23] – former managing partner at Lazard and personal adviser to the president of Guinea.[24]

Other business ventures

He is also an investor of Gabriel Resources Ltd.[25]

On March 10, 2016, he was indicted in absentia by Romanian National Anticorruption Directorate, on charges regarding the unlawful recovery of Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern's inheritance.[26]

Net worth

The March 2011 issue of Forbes magazine estimated his personal wealth at US$6 billion.[27] As of March 2011, he was the second richest person in Israel, before Sammy Ofer died in June 2011.[28] According to Forbes in June 2014, Steinmetz is the sixth richest Israeli in the world with a net worth of $3.5 billion.[29]

Personal

Steinmetz lives in Geneva, Switzerland.[9] He is married with four children.[1] With his wife, he oversees the Beny & Agnes Steinmetz Foundation, which donates to schools, hospitals, army units and the arts in Israel.[1] He also holds French citizenship and describes himself as an "international Israeli."[30]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Forbes 2010
  2. 1 2 Michael Rochvarger, 'Hapoalim confronts Beny Steinmetz', in Haaretz, 13.05.10
  3. 1 2 BSG Resources Limited About Retrieved 2012-12-15
  4. ↑ Sherwood, Harriet. "Beny Steinmetz: Israeli diamond dealer who likes to keep a low profile". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  5. ↑ Swiss Newspaper Reports Beny Steinmetz Sells Interest In Diamond Business, Jewish Business News, Mar 30th, 2014
  6. ↑ "Guinea to strip Beny Steinmetz company of mining concessions". The Guardian. April 9, 2014.
  7. ↑ Bate Felix, 'Rio says reaches accord with Guinea over Simandou', Reuters, Apr 22 Retrieved 2012-12-15
  8. ↑ "Rio Ordered to Give Half of Guinea Concession to BSG (Update2)". Bloomberg. 11 December 2008.
  9. 1 2 3 "Buried Secrets: How an Israeli billionaire wrested control of one of Africa’s biggest prizes" by Patrick Radden Keefe. The New Yorker, 8 July 2013
  10. ↑ "Guinea and its iron ore: Let the people benefit, for once". The Economist. June 7, 2014.
  11. ↑ Koidu Holdings Company History Retrieved 2012-12-15
  12. ↑ Joan Baxter, Dust from our eyes: an unblinkered look at Africa, Wolsak and Wynn Publishers Ltd., 2008, p. 226
  13. ↑ STI Ventures NV BusinessWeek
  14. ↑ ISLA, Volume 54, Issue 12, Oakland, California: Information Services on Latin America, 1999, p. 7379
  15. ↑ "History". Katanga Mining. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  16. ↑ "FBI arrest agent over bribery cover up claim in battle over $10bn mountain", The Guardian, 16 April 2013
  17. ↑ "The corruption deal of the century: How Guinea lost billions of pounds in Simandou mining licensing", The Independent, 17 June 2013
  18. ↑ Video on YouTube
  19. ↑ Ian Cobain; Juliette Garside; Anne Penketh (9 April 2014). "Guinea to strip Beny Steinmetz company of mining concessions". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  20. ↑ Cobain, Ian (1 May 2014). "Rio Tinto sues Israeli billionaire Benny Steinmetz". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  21. ↑ Silverstein, Ken (January 2, 2015). "Louis Freeh's Latest Investigation: Billionaire Businessman Accused of Bribing African Government". The Intercept. Archived from the original on January 2, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  22. ↑ Voris, Erik Larson eelarson Bob Van (2015-11-20). "Steinmetz, BSG Resources Win Dismissal of Rio Tinto Lawsuit". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
  23. ↑ "François de Combret". Wikipédia (in French). 2016-11-01.
  24. ↑ JP_Riseborough, Franz Wild wildfranz Jesse Riseborough (2016-11-11). "Billionaire Says Rio Probe Proves Elaborate Plot to Strip Prized Guinea Mine Rights". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
  25. ↑ "Steinmetz unit invests in Gabriel Resources". Mining Weekly. 12 November 2009.
  26. ↑ "Bombă aruncată de DNA: Se cere arestarea a patru afaceriști extrem de influenţi". antena3. 10 March 2016.
  27. ↑ 'Forbes Rich List - 'The World's Billionaires 2011' - Beny Steinmetz'
  28. ↑ 'Sammy Ofer tops Israelis in 'Forbes' billionaires list', in The Jerusalem Post, 03/10/2011
  29. ↑ "Beny Steinmetz". Forbes. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  30. ↑ "Beny Steinmetz: Israeli diamond dealer who likes to keep a low profile". The Guardian. 29 July 2013.
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