Prince Alwaleed sells 16.87% stake in Kingdom Holding to PIF in $1.5bn deal

Kingdom Holding, the Saudi Arabian investment company controlled by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, sold a 16.87 per cent stake in the company to the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, in a deal valued at $1.5 billion.

The company is selling 625 million shares to the PIF at a share price of 9.09 Saudi riyals ($2.42), the company said in a statement to the Tadawul Stock Exchange, where its shares are traded. The company's share price is about 9 per cent lower since the start of the year. Following the completion of the deal, Prince Alwaleed will own 78.13 per cent in Kingdom Holding, the company said.The market value of Kingdom Holding as of Sunday is about 33.69bn riyals.

Kingdom Holding’s business interests span sectors from aviation, banking and financial institutions, e-commerce, education, hotel management, healthcare, hospitality, real estate, petrochemicals and private equity.

The Riyadh company holds stakes in international companies including CitiGroup, JD.com, global hospitality company Accor and ride-sharing companies Uber, Careem and Lyft. In its home market, the company controls Kingdom Hospitals and Kingdom Schools, Saudi petrochemicals company Tasnee, budget airline flynas, private aviation company NasJet and digital services company Deezer, among others.

Kingdom Holding reported a huge jump in its first-quarter profit, driven by gains on the sale of half of the company’s stake in an associate, as well as improved hotel revenue and other operating revenue.

The company's net profit after zakat and tax rose to 5.9bn riyals, compared to 91 million riyals reported during the same period last year, according to the company's financial statement. Revenue during the period more than doubled to 450m riyals.

Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding has completed several investments in the recent months. Earlier this year, Kingdom Holding completed an 8.29bn riyals deal to sell half of its stake in the global hospitality company Four Seasons. The company had retained a 23.75 per cent ownership in the global hotels and resorts operator after the deal.

Prince Alwaleed also retained his $1.9bn stake in Twitter following a proposal from billionaire businessman Elon Musk to acquire the microblogging platform for $44bn last month. The Saudi billionaire, who initially criticised Mr Musk's offer, hailed the Tesla founder as “an excellent leader” following his decision to retain the stake.“I believe you will be an excellent leader for Twitter to propel and maximise its great potential. Kingdom Holding and I look forward to roll our $1.9bn in the 'new' Twitter and join you on this exciting journey,” he tweeted this month.