Dubai; Often called the Warren Buffett of the Middle East, the arrested billionaire Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Al Saud, according to news reports, through his company Kingdom Holding Co, has investments in various sectors. These are financial services, investments, real estate companies, hotels, aviation, social media firms, consumer and retail, among others.

Recently he slammed Bitcoin, which Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JP Morgan called a fraud, calling it “Enron in the making.”

The reported arrest came after the end of the investment summit, also called ‘Davos in the Desert’, where a plan for a $500 billion (Dh1.8 trillion) new city spanning three countries, called Neom, was unveiled to the world.

Al Waleed’s first investment was in the “ailing banking giant” Citigroup in 1991, in which he invested $207 million for a 4.9 per cent stake, bringing him into the spotlight. He currently holds 3.6 per cent. Prince Al Waleed in his personal capacity along with Kingdom Holding has 5 per cent in Twitter. He has a 3.6 per cent stake in Glencore, in which Kingdom Holding invested $60 million during its initial public offering. Kingdom Holding also took 16.2 per cent in Banque Saudi Fransi through Credit Agricole. Kingdom Holding has a 5 per cent stake in Time Warner. Kingdom Holding also has stakes in Accor Hotels, Fairmont and Four seasons, eBay, JD.com and Lyft, among others. Kingdom Holding has a 42 per cent New York Plaza Hotel. Prince Al Waleed was also a shareholder in Apple until 2005.

Watching for reaction

Shares of Kingdom Holding, through which Prince Al Waleed holds stakes in companies, tumbled to its lowest level in 52 weeks yesterday on the Tadawul Exchange. Traders would eye the reaction to share price of Citigroup, Twitter, Glencore, among others.

“I’m not worried about the international names right now. The impact on the share prices won’t be significant since he has a minority stake in those companies,” Nadi Bargouti, head of asset management, managing director of Emirates Investment Bank, said.

Vaqar Zuberi, Head of Hedge Funds, Mirabaud Asset Management agreed.

“These businesses are run independently of Kingdom Holding, and the shares held by Kingdom Holding are not likely to be liquidated pending resolution of the arrest of Prince Al Waleed. Moreover, Kingdom Holding is a minority shareholder in most of the high profile foreign investments of the company,” said Zuberi.

“Despite the short term uncertainty, over the long term, greater accountability and transparency as proclaimed by the Saudi government on Saturday, will be positive for the economy and give greater confidence to foreign investors,” he added.