I'm a bit late on this one (apologies!), but I just want to point everyone to
by The National's own Travis Pantin. It's about the hard times that have befallen two large Saudi conglomerates - Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi and Brothers.
Conglomerates are key ingredients in the region's economic lifeblood, and at least a few seem to have overextended themselves during the boom times, borrowing to finance expansion to what has turned out to be an untenable degree. One question, though: how much government support will these companies get if similar problems crop up in more than a handful of them?
(Photo: Maan al Sanea, the Saudi billionaire who founded the Saad Group in the 1980s. Supplied)
