Dubai: He’s out, and Prince Al Waleed’s Kingdom Holding Co shares surged back to where they were before Saudi Arabia started its crackdown on corruption last year.
Kingdom Holding rose 7.6 per cent to 10.8 riyals at the open in Riyadh, exceeding the level it was trading at before Saudi Arabia shocked investors with the arrest of dozens of high-profile businessmen and princes in November. Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal owns 95 per cent of Kingdom Holding, which holds stakes in companies from Citigroup Inc. to Twitter Inc.
The billionaire reached a settlement with authorities and returned home on Saturday after spending more than two months in detention at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh. During that time, his investment firm is said to have sold its stake in Beirut’s Four Seasons Hotel for about $100 million (Dh367 million) to $115 million including debt.
The shares have advanced 33 per cent since falling to a 2011-low in November, compared with a 8.9 per cent gain in the Tadawul All Share Index.
