Cairo: Reports that News Corp, parent to Fox News and Dow Jones, could consider buying a stake in Rotana Media Group, have gained ground after the heads of both groups held talks on January 14,

Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, who met News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch on January 14, is looking to expand his alliance with the media conglomerate in an attempt to facilitate future borrowing and growth.

Neither company has commented publicly on the possible deal, but the talks offer an indication that such an agreement may yet be in the offing.

A Kingdom Holding statement said Al Waleed is already the second largest stakeholder in News Corp, with 5.7 per cent of the shares of the media company. The stake is held through Kingdom Holding, in which Al Waleed holds a 95 per cent stake.

In 2008, the two companies teamed up to bring Fox Movies to the Arab world and then last year, Rotana and Fox International Channels signed a multi-year output deal with Walt Disney to provide a range of programing to viewers in the Middle East, according to a statement by Kingdom Holding.

Al Waleed's meeting with Murdoch "touched upon future potential alliances with News Corp," according to a statement released by Kingdom Holding late on Saturday.

Al Waleed, and his investment firm, were hit hard by the global meltdown.

He has since focused on shoring up borrowing power, in part through a recent decision to transfer 180 million of his shares — valued at about $600 million — in Citigroup to Kingdom Holding.

Citigroup

Al Waleed also met last week with Citigroup's chief executive Vikram Pandit.

Al Waleed told Pandit that the "honeymoon is now over", a clear indication that one of the banking giant's largest investors wants solid results this year, according to a transcript of an interview that aired last week.

"I told him that clearly the market gave you two years' leeway, but I think now it's time to deliver," Al Waleed said. "And 2010 is really for him the year to make it or break it, and he has to deliver."

Al Waleed raised his stake in Citigroup to five per cent in late 2008 from less than four per cent in a move that came as the company was facing a possible collapse.