Vicky Safra (Athens, 1 July, 1952) is a Greek-born billionaire and philanthropist; and member of the Safra family.
The majority of Vicky Safra and her children’s fortune is derived from their ownership of a banking empire passed down from Joseph Safra, who died in 2020. The J. Safra Group has over $190 billion assets under management in over 25 countries, according to its website. The Sao Paulo-based flagship, Banco Safra, reported equity of 18.3 billion reais ($3.6 billion) in 2022. It’s valued using the average price-to-book and price-to-earnings multiples of three Brazil banks, Itau, Bradesco and Santander Brasil, and Mexican lender Banorte.
Joseph Safra spent 2 billion francs ($2.1 billion) in 2012 to acquire Bank Sarasin, a wealth-management company based in Basel, Switzerland. He merged it into the parent company for his wealth units in Europe and the Caribbean, creating J. Safra Sarasin. The entity reported 2022 equity of 6.2 billion francs ($6.5 billion). It’s valued with the average price-to-book multiples of two Swiss peer companies: Julius Baer Group and EFG International.
Safra National Bank of New York, which reported 2022 equity of $1.1 billion, is valued using the average price-to-book-value multiple of four publicly traded peers: FNB Corp, Community Bank System Inc, Signature Bank/New York NY and New York Community Bancorp Inc.
Joseph Safra bought his late brother Moise’s 50% stake in the family’s banking empire in 2006, and had received more than 9.1 billion reais in dividends since and another 1.4 billion reais from his 2009 sale of a stake in pulp producer Aracruz. The value of the family’s cash investments is based on an analysis of dividends, asset sales, taxes and market performance.
The Safras real estate is valued using the 2021 net book value of 1.2 billion euros reported by JS IMMO Luxembourg.
Biography
Safra was born Vicky Sarfati (Βίκυ Σαρφάτη), the daughter of Fortunée (née Eskenazi) (1926–2015) and Alberto El Sarfaty (1914–2003). In 1969, she married Joseph Safra (1938–2020). Her husband died in 2020 leaving his fortune to her and their children. She heads the Joseph Safra Philanthropic Foundation.
She is a citizen of Greece but lives in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. She had four children with her husband: Jacob J. Safra, Esther Safra Dayan (married to Carlos Dayan [pt], son of Sasson Dayan), Alberto J. Safra, and David J. Safra. Jacob is responsible for the international operations (Safra National Bank of New York and J. Safra Sarasin of Switzerland) while David manages Banco Safra in Brazil.
According to the Forbes list of The World’s Billionaires, as of October 2021, she is worth $7.5 billion. Her children are also billionaires worth collectively $7.1 billion. As of 2021, she is the richest woman in Greece
Milestones
- 1891 Jewish-Syrian financier Jacob Safra is born in Aleppo, Syria.
- 1938 Joseph Safra, Jacob’s youngest son, is born in Lebanon
- 1953 Jacob Safra relocates family to Brazil
- 1957 Jacob Safra obtains a banking license in Brazil
- 1969 Vicky and Joseph Safra are married in Sao Paulo
- 2014 Joseph Safra purchases Gherkin building in London for $1.1 billion.
- 2021 Joseph Safra dies at 82 of natural causes
