KBW Investments being studied for possibility of going public by 2022

Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal’s private equity and venture capital company KBW Investments may go public as soon as 2022, its chairman said.

The Dubai company, founded in 2013, has a diversified portfolio worth about Dh3.5 billion with investments in the finance, media, property, construction, engineering, manufacturing, automation and technology sectors.

“It’s an option for the next three to five years,” Prince Khaled told The National. “As soon as we start diversifying a little more our portfolio from construction, architecture and engineering and obviously the real estate, we can package them into one attractive deal and then go public.

“My personal preference would be to start a project in Saudi Arabia and then go to [the] Tadawul [exchange] as opposed to having no project in Saudi and going to the market,” Prince Khaled said when asked where he would look to list his company.

Sharjah real estate developer Arada, which is a joint venture between KBW Investments and Basma Group, is seeking joint venture partners in the kingdom, the largest economy in the Arab world and most populous country in the Arabian Gulf.

Saudi Arabia is facing housing shortages and, like its GCC peers, has witnessed a softening property market over the last few years.

“At the end of the day, I am Saudi, I believe in Saudi and I believe in the real estate market in Saudi.

“So we have to launch something before we can talk about taking KBW public,” Prince Khaled said.

“Right now I’m enjoying having a private company, controlling the company and really working on our ambitions.”

KBW Investments invests in businesses that have high potential, that may or may not be profitable but have capacity to scale and generate additional growth opportunities.