Belmiro de Azevedo

Belmiro Mendes de Azevedo (born February 17 1938) is a Portuguese entrepreneur, ranked by Forbes as the 605th richest person in the world (2008), as well as the second richest in Portugal with an estimated wealth of $2.0 billion dollars. He owns Sonae SGPS, one of the largest business groups in Portugal, which also operates in Spain, Greece, Germany, Italy and Brazil

Sonae is a Portuguese leader in real estate and retailing and also has investments in telecommunications, tourism, venture capital and the media. In 2006, Sonae launched an unsuccessful hostile bid to control Portugal Telecom, the number one Portuguese telecommunications operator.

Belmiro de Azevedo, a carpenter and a tailor's son, has a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Porto and an MBA from Harvard University. He is married to Margarida Teixeira and father of three children: Paulo, Nuno and Cláudia.

External links

* [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/PXAE.html Belmiro de Azevedo's brief biography at Forbes magazine]