Sovereign buys 16% of Kingdom Holding shares

Kingdom Holding Company, listed on the main Saudi stock market, disclosed yesterday the implementation of a huge sale and purchase agreement between the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the main shareholder and founder Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to sell 625,000 shares, representing 16.87 percent of the company’s total shares.

A statement issued on the Tadawul website said that the operation was carried out through a private purchase and sale transaction at a price of 9.09 riyals ($2.6) per share, bringing the total value of the deal to 5.7 billion riyals ($1.2 billion), thus reducing Prince Alwaleed’s ownership percentage in the company to 78.13 percent, after the operation was carried out through “Saudi Tadawul” yesterday (Sunday). The Kingdom Holding Company announced that it achieved profits of 5.9 billion riyals (1.5 billion dollars) by the end of the first quarter of this year.

The Saudi sovereign fund continues to diversify its investment portfolio and expand its orientations by seizing buying opportunities in giant companies, the latest of which was its acquisition, a few days ago, of a 5 percent stake in the Japanese video game company “Nintendo,” to join more than 5 percent stakes in two gaming companies. Two are listed in Japan, namely, “Capcom” and “Nixon” providers of online games.

The fund is working to establish new economic activities in the Kingdom; He recently announced the launch of the Saudi Coffee Company, with the aim of supporting the local coffee producer and raising it to global ranks, revealing an investment of about 1.2 billion riyals over 10 years.
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