Riyadh: Kingdom Holding, run by billionaire Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, said yesterday Qatari Diar Real Estate paid 3.2 billion Saudi riyals ($847 million) for a 40 per cent stake in Fairmont Raffles Holdings International, a subsidiary of the prince's company.
The cash from the Qatari firm, a wholly-owned unit of the Qatar Investment Authority, the country's sovereign wealth fund, will be used to finance current and future projects of Fairmont Raffles, Kingdom Holding said in a statement on the Saudi bourse web site.
Kingdom Holding shares last traded flat at 9.35 riyals in a broadly unchanged market.
In an emailed statement, Kingdom Holding said Voyager Partners, a private investment entity based in the Cayman Islands, acquired the stake "for a combination of cash and other consideration", while Qatari Diar's subsidiary QD Hotel & Property Investment would steer management contracts to Fairmont Raffles.
Prince Al Waleed said the investment "underlines the strength of FRHI's [Fairmont Raffles] brands and management capabilities and provides assurance that FRHI's global growth will be among the highest in the industry".
Kingdom said its stake in Fairmont Raffles will be reduced to 35 per cent from 58 per cent. Colony Capital is the third largest shareholder in Fairmont Raffles. Prince Al Waleed, who owns 95 per cent of Kingdom Holding, has kept a low profile after his US stock picks plunged in the wake of the financial crisis and wiped out half of his conglomerate's equity. The company, which bounced back to profit last year after selling some hotels and land in Saudi Arabia, posted a 31 billion riyal net loss in the fourth quarter of 2008.
