Kingdom Holding buys 30% of NAS

STAKE SALE: Kingdom Holding has bought a 30% stake in NAS. (Getty Images)

Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding Co., controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, bought a 30 percent stake in National Air Services (NAS), Dubai private equity firm Abraaj Capital said on Tuesday.

Saudi investors of Abraaj received a 52 percent internal rate of return for the stake sale, it said in a statement, without disclosing the value of the deal.

Kingdom said in November it had bought 9 percent of NAS for 262 million riyals ($69.86 million) to gain exposure to the regional aviation sector.

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.

The Gulf region is a burgeoning market for budget airlines and Saudi Arabia joined has entered the market licencing two low-carriers, Sama and NASair, to operate internationally.

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

NASair begun Gulf routes outside the kingdom this year with flights to Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. (Reuters)

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