A string of massive deals in the past 12 months put retail king Christo Wiese in the Rich List's top slot, bumping last year's winner, Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg, into second place. Wiese did so well it would be fair to say that 2015 belonged to him. He didn't just scrape into this year's top position - he dominates the list.His investment holdings, worth R104.8-billion, are more than the combined value of the next five people on the list.The deal that guaranteed him the top position was announced at the end of last year. In what was then the largest South African deal - since dwarfed by the ABInBev acquisition of SABMiller - Steinhoff International acquired Pepkor for R62.8-billion. (Friday's news of a raid by German tax officials on Steinhoff's offices in that country takes some of the shine off Wiese's sparkling year.)story_article_left1Wiese exchanged his shares in Pepkor, a mainly South African and UK-based business, for an 18% stake in Steinhoff, whose manufacturing and retail operations stretch across Europe, the UK, Australasia and Africa. Wiese's holding in Steinhoff now accounts for R56.5-billion of his publicly disclosed wealth.His 35% stake in investment company Brait, which implements most of Wiese's acquisition strategy, is worth R28.8-billion.Then there's Shoprite, the South African grocery retailer that has scored success abroad. Wiese's 16% is worth almost R12.8-billion.Given all this it was hardly surprising that Wiese was the first person to be awarded - in the same year - both the business leader and lifetime achiever awards this year in The Sunday Times Top 100 Companies awards. He was also inducted into the World Retail Hall of Fame this year.Companies that built up asset bases outside South Africa, particularly in strong currency areas such as Europe and the US, did very well for their shareholders. The depreciation of the rand, in line with most emerging market currencies, ensured this was a winning strategy even if the underlying businesses didn't sparkle.Last year, Patrice Motsepe was the top-performing "all-South Africa" contender with the value of his effective 40% stake in African Rainbow Minerals putting him in fifth position with just over R11.8-billion. However, the sustained slump in mining knocked Motsepe's wealth to R3.8-billion, and 18th place, this year.It wasn't just South African mining that was hit.Companies focused on doing business only or primarily in SA struggled. After years of attracting enthusiastic international support even the local retail sector lost its shine. Pick n Pay's Ackerman family only managed to edge up to 11th position this year - from 14th last year.story_article_right2The Glencore share would have to have surged more than 71% to secure Glasenberg's position at the top of the 2015 list. It didn't. Far from surging, the share was hit hard by the slump in China's demand for commodities.Glasenberg watched as the value of his 8.3% stake in Glencore more than halved, down from R61.4-billion in 2014 to R24.9-billion - but still valuable enough to secure the second spot.Apart from a few Glencore executives and Motsepe, the only other sign of mining-related wealth in the top 50 was Desmond Sacco, who owns 24% of Assore, which mines manganese, iron and chrome ore. Sacco has dropped from 15th place to 24th.The near absence of mining magnates in the Rich List top 50 should dispel lingering thoughts that South Africa is still a mining economy.Inevitably, there will be a recovery in mining wealth. Once the Chinese excess of commodities is out of the system and the global economy shows more rigorous signs of growth, a new era of mining magnates will emerge.Until then we will have to rely on the likes of Aspen and Naspers to break the dominance of finance and investment companies such as PSG, FirstRand, Remgro and Capitec, and their directors, in the top 100.sub_head_start How this year's Rich List was figured out sub_head_endRich List research was compiled by Who Owns Whom.Directors' holdings for the Rich List reflect wealth at November 30 2015, and the earnings table reflects what was earned in 2014 as reported in annual reports and financial results.Great care has been taken to ensure accuracy, but the possibility of error does exist.PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:• The calendar years 2014 and 2015 were researched from hard copy and internet documents published in terms of the Companies Act and the JSE's listing requirements;• Shareholdings were extracted as published in public documents and public share registers;story_article_left3• Shareholdings included those held via trusts where this was deemed appropriate;• The market price as at November 30 2015 was used for the valuation of holdings;• It was assumed that the conditions of conditional options would be met;• Options issued under more than one scheme or over a period were added where this was deemed appropriate;• Share-based payments including options awarded were excluded unless exercised;• Gains on options exercised in the year under review were included in remuneration;• Earnings and directors' fees paid to other unlisted companies were excluded;• Severance packages and retention bonuses were included in remuneration;• Conversion rates to the rand were as follows:USD: 10.87 (9.75); GBP: 17.89 (15.29); EUR: 14.35 (12.98); NZD: 8.97 (9.42); AUD: 9.76 (9.31); CAD: 9.81 (9.42); HKD: 1.40 (1.26); NGN: 0.07 (0.06); BWP: 1.21 (1.15); CHF: 11.83 (10.56)NOTES REGARDING THE RESEARCH:• Patrice Motsepe:Motsepe's 40.35% holdings in African Rainbow Minerals Ltd is via African Rainbow Minerals Exploration Investments, but the shareholding of this private company is not disclosed.story_article_right4• Lakshmi Mittal:ArcelorMittal Holdings AG holds a direct 46.82% of the issued shares in local JSE-listed ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd.Neither the direct nor indirect holdings of Mittal in the locally listed company have been publicly disclosed.• Royal Bafokeng Consortium:Consists of the Royal Bafokeng Nation Development Trust's holdings in listed entities via its wholly owned subsidiary Royal Bafokeng Holdings Ltd.The inclusion of the Royal Bafokeng holdings in this survey is a legacy decision motivated by the historical importance of this empowerment trust, but, given the increased focus of the research on individual wealth, it was considered appropriate to exclude it this year.The value of the Royal Bafokeng holdings in Attacq, Impala, Metair, Rand Merchant Insurance and RMB totals R29-billion, which would have placed it at No2 on the list.• WBHO:Regarding Savannah Maziya, Nonhlanhla Mjoli-Mncube and James Ngobeni, shareholding disclosed for these three directors of Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon includes 633333 allocated, indirectly beneficial shares in respect of the empowerment initiative of the company and do not represent the number of shares likely to vest upon fulfilment of the vesting conditions. Their holdings also include 78243 indirect shares acquired with dividends and purchased on the open market, on the assumption that all taxes due would be paid by the partner...