Kingdom Holding buys NAS stake

Kingdom Holding, controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said on Sunday it bought a stake in Saudi-based National Air Services (NAS) to gain exposure to the growing regional aviation sector.

Kingdom Holding paid 262 million riyals for ($69.86 million) the 9% stake in National Air, which said last week it planned to sell a 30% stake in an initial public offering next year to help finance aircraft purchases.

NAS operates a luxury airline called Al Khayala, low-cost carrier NASair, and a private aviation service that rents and offers part ownerships of jets in the Gulf Arab region.

"This is our corner stone in the aviation sector," Kingdom Holding executive director of private equity Ahmed Halawani said in a statement.

National Air confirmed a $1.3 billion order for 20 single-aisle A320 Airbus aircraft at the Dubai air show last week.

Alwaleed, a nephew of King Abdullah, has made billions of dollars investing in underperforming companies and is Citigroup’s largest individual shareholder.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM