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 Public Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, in a deal valued at $1.5 billion.
The company is selling 625 million shares to the PIF at a price of 9.09 Saudi riyals ($2.42) each, 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 a 78.13 per cent stake 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 to e-commerce, education, hotel management, health care, 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 with 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.
Kingdom Holding has completed several investments in recent months.
Earlier this year, it completed a 8.29bn riyals deal to sell half of its stake in global hospitality company Four Seasons. The company retained a 23.75 per cent stake in the 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.
The PIF, which plays an integral role in the kingdom's Vision 2030 plan, has also been expanding its portfolio.
Earlier this month, it bought a 5.01 per cent stake in Japan's Nintendo, boosting its portfolio in the lucrative global gaming sector.
The fund also launched a coffee company to develop the national industry, boost production capacity and promote Saudi coffee beans as a global product, in line with the kingdom's focus on the priority sector of food and agriculture.
In August, the PIF bought a stake in Italian luxury car maker Pagani, which makes some of the world’s most expensive supercars and counts Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and footballer Lionel Messi on its list of high-profile clients.
The PIF seeks to diversify the Arab world's largest economy and reduce its reliance on oil. Under a five-year strategy that was announced in January last year, the fund aims to more than double the value of its assets under management to $1.07 trillion and commit $40bn a year to develop the domestic economy, until 2025.
Five%20calorie-packed%20Ramadan%20drinks
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Despacito's dominance in numbers
Released: 2017
Peak chart position: No.1 in more than 47 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Lebanon
Views: 5.3 billion on YouTube
Sales: With 10 million downloads in the US, Despacito became the first Latin single to receive Diamond sales certification
Streams: 1.3 billion combined audio and video by the end of 2017, making it the biggest digital hit of the year.
Awards: 17, including Record of the Year at last year’s prestigious Latin Grammy Awards, as well as five Billboard Music Awards
What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women & the Food That Tells Their Stories
Laura Shapiro
Fourth Estate
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
THE SPECS
Cadillac XT6 2020 Premium Luxury
Engine: 3.6L V-6
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 310hp
Torque: 367Nm
Price: Dh280,000
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Have you been targeted?
Tuan Phan of SimplyFI.org lists five signs you have been mis-sold to:
1. Your pension fund has been placed inside an offshore insurance wrapper with a hefty upfront commission.
2. The money has been transferred into a structured note. These products have high upfront, recurring commission and should never be in a pension account.
3. You have also been sold investment funds with an upfront initial charge of around 5 per cent. ETFs, for example, have no upfront charges.
4. The adviser charges a 1 per cent charge for managing your assets. They are being paid for doing nothing. They have already claimed massive amounts in hidden upfront commission.
5. Total annual management cost for your pension account is 2 per cent or more, including platform, underlying fund and advice charges.
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Ipaf in numbers
Established: 2008
Prize money: $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.
Winning novels: 13
Shortlisted novels: 66
Longlisted novels: 111
Total number of novels submitted: 1,780
Novels translated internationally: 66
FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place play-off
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
Jimmy Greaves 44
Michael Owen 40
Tom Finney 30
Nat Lofthouse 30
Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29
