Saudi billionaire Alwaleed rejigs investments - report

ROYAL REVIEW: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's Kingdom Holding posted $8.26bn Q4 net loss. (Getty Images)

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is reviewing his investment portfolio, Saudi newspapers quoted him as saying on Wednesday, after his Kingdom Holding Co posted a record loss in the fourth quarter.

"Kingdom Holding Company is working on rebalancing its investments and to redirect them," Asharq al-Awsat newspaper quoted him as saying at a press conference for the Saudi media.

Alwaleed, nephew of King Abdullah, did not elaborate but al-Eqtisadiah newspaper quoted him saying that his investments will focus more on "Saudi Arabia and the region" and he cited particular interest in real estate.

Kingdom Holding's spokeswoman Heba Fatani could not be reached for comment.

Kingdom Holding, in which Alwaleed holds a 94 percent stake, shocked investors after it announced a $8.26 billion net loss for the fourth quarter due to a dive in the value of its assets, which include a substantial stake in Citigroup.

Alwaleed said little about his company's stake in Citigroup, which accounted for more than 40 percent of the total value of Kingdom Holding's assets when the latter was selling shares to the Saudi public in July, 2007.

"The U.S. government has given great support (to Citi) and we hope these measures will soon stabilise the bank," al-Hayat newspaper quoted him as saying.

The value of Kingdom's assets fell to 50 billion riyals by the end of 2008 down from some 90 billion riyals in July, 2007, board member Ahmad Halawani said on Tuesday.

Kingdom owned 3.6 percent of the ailing U.S. bank in July, 2007. Five months later, Prince Alwaleed said he was among investors, including the Kuwait Investment Authority that agreed to sink at least five billion dollars into Citigroup as it scrambled for capital.

Halawani said the fourth-quarter losses were the result of liquidations of "some international and local" assets in 2008 and a four billion dollar provision for impairment losses on its investment portfolio.

Halawani declined to say if Citigroup shares were part of the assets the company had shed.

Alwaleed was the world's 19th richest person with a $21 billion fortune according to Forbes' latest survey.

He originally paid $2.75 per Citigroup share, adjusted for stock splits, he said in a Fortune magazine interview published in November, 2007.

The royal came to the bank's aid in 1991, when he invested $590 million in Citigroup predecessor Citicorp, which needed cash as it struggled with Latin American loan losses and a collapse in US real-estate prices. (Reuters)

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