Peru’s wealthiest individuals lost over 40 percent of their financial estate over the past year due to a decline in the value of their businesses on the stock market and poor financial results of their companies.
According to daily El Comercio, which used figures from Forbes magazine, the estate of Peru’s eight richest individuals now totals $11.75 billion, compared to $19.5 billion a year-earlier.
Peru’s wealthiest businessman is Eduardo Belmont, the chief executive of Peruvian cosmetic company Belcorp. However, El Comercio said that Belmont’s fortune fell to $2.5 billion from an estimated $6.1 billion in the previous year. Forbes had said last year’s estimate of Belmont’s wealth had some errors in the calculation.
Another prominent businessman, Carlos Rodriguez-Pastor, saw his estimated wealth fall to $1.8 billion from $3.4 billion, according to the report. Rodriguez-Pastor is the head of Peru’s Intercorp, which owns Peru’s fourth largest bank, Interbank, the Plaza Vea/Vivanda supermarket chains and other assets.
Eduardo Hochschild, the head of mining company Hochschild, is estimated to have a fortune worth $1.15 billion, down from $2.1 billion, impacted by a decline in the company’s share value due to a fall in silver production.
Other Peruvian billionaires who have seen their fortunes fall are Vito and Jorge Rodriguez, the owners of Grupo Gloria, as well as Juan Fernando Belmont, brother to Eduardo Belmont and who owns cosmetics firm Yanbal Internacional.
Two other wealthy Peruvian businessmen passed away during the past year. Alberto Benavides de la Quintana, the founder of mining company Buenaventura, passed away in February, while Mario Brescia, the founder of the Brescia Group, also died. Their combined assets were estimated to be worth $3.8 billion.
