Back in business:
Saudi billionaire weighs deals in bid to reshape financial empire
Just weeks after his release from detention in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton, Prince Alwaleed Talal, is hunting for deals again and planning to reshape his investment empire. The billionaire is working with advisers including Goldman Sachs Group Inc to find investments as large as US$3bil for Kingdom Holding Co, his publicly traded investment firm.
NEW YORK: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, just weeks after his release from detention in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton, is hunting for deals again and planning to reshape his investment empire.
The prince, in his first interview since leaving the hotel seven weeks ago, told Bloomberg Television he’s working with advisors including Goldman Sachs Group Inc to find investments as large as US$3bil for Kingdom Holding Co, his publicly traded investment firm.
He also said he’s likely to split the company’s US$13bil of assets through a spin-off of its domestic property and other holdings.
“It will take some time as we are still developing that matter,” the 63-year-old nephew of King Salman said at his Riyadh apartment. “Our CEO is thinking in these terms.” Alwaleed was the most prominent among hundreds of Saudi businessmen, government officials and princes who were swept up in November in what the government called a crackdown on corruption.
Ranked the world’s 64th richest man and long the public face of the Saudi royal family to foreign executives and investors, Alwaleed made clear he wants to reassure partners that his business empire is intact and fully functioning after 83 days of confinement in the Ritz-Carlton.
“I understand it’s not going to be easy at all -- some people in business community will be doubtful, will say, ‘What’s going on?,’” Alwaleed said.
“However, I assure them that everything is normal and we are functioning as we were before and we welcome them to come here to see what we’re doing in Saudi Arabia and life is back to normal.”
While the prince refused to provide the terms of his release, he described a “confirmed understanding” with Saudi authorities. Signing the document left him free to function normally with “zero guilt” and “zero conditions.” Alwaleed gained international fame in the 1990s as a savvy investor and occasionally drew comparisons to Warren Buffett. Kingdom Holding’s current investments include stakes in Citigroup Inc, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts and Twitter Inc.
Its domestic holdings, most notably a one kilometre-high tower under construction in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, make up about half of Kingdom Holding’s assets. Alwaleed said they could be spun off into a real estate investment trust.
In the meantime, Kingdom Holding is seeking to raise US$1bil to US$2bil in debt.
Alwaleed described that as “firepower” for local, regional or international investments of US$1bil to US$3bil.
“Right now we are in discussions with certain companies in the U.S. for certain deals,” the prince said. “Although the market right now in the US is – I’d not say overvalued – but prices are not where we would wish them to be.”