Kingdom to book gain from sale of NY Plaza hotel

Kingdom Holding, the investment firm owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said on Tuesday it will book a US$32.9m profit on the sale of New York's Plaza Hotel to an Indian conglomerate.

Kingdom said Sahara India Pariwar had completed its purchase of a 75 percent stake in the Plaza for US$575m. The Saudi firm will retain a 25 percent equity stake in the property, which includes the hotel, condos and retail space among others.

In July, Kingdom's Israeli-owned partner in the hotel, Elad Properties, agreed to sell its Plaza stake to Sahara.

The 105-year old luxury hotel overlooking New York's Central Park has a hotel portion which spans 230 rooms and so-called retail portion which encompasses the hotel's banquet hall, fitness center and other common areas.

Kingdom, which holds minority stakes in some of the world's top companies including Citigroup, reiterated Fairmont Hotels & Resorts will continue to manage the hotel.

The Saudi firm also owns stakes in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and microblogging site Twitter.