Riyadh (awp/afp) – Saudi billionaire prince Al-Walid bin Talal, arrested in 2017 as part of a government-led anti-corruption campaign, sold 16.87% of his company’s shares to the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, chaired by the crown prince, a statement said on Sunday.
These shares of the investment company Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) represent approximately 1.5 billion dollars (1.42 billion euros), according to the Tadawul, the benchmark index of the Riyadh Stock Exchange. KHC notably owns the George V hotel in Paris and the majority of shares in The Savoy hotel in London.
“The main shareholder and founder of the KHC company, Al-Walid bin Talal (…) sold 625 million shares to the Public Investment Fund” (PIF), the statement said, specifying that this corresponded to ” 16.87% of the company’s total shares”.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chairs the PIF, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, at the heart of Saudi strategy to diversify its oil-dependent economy.
Prince Al-Walid bin Talal was among some 300 prominent figures arrested and then locked up in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel during an anti-corruption crackdown in November 2017. He was released three months later after reaching financial arrangements with authorities.
According to opponents of Mohammed bin Salman, this wave of arrests was an attempt to ward off potential rivals to consolidate his power in the wealthy Gulf monarchy.
afp/rp