Kuwait: Kuwait’s Mabanee is set to sign more than 5 billion Saudi riyals ($1.33 billion; Dh4.89 billion) worth of financing from banks to develop The Avenues Riyadh shopping mall, chief executive Waleed Al Sharian said on Monday.

The agreement is with a consortium of Saudi, UAE and Kuwaiti banks, he told reporters after a shareholder meeting. Construction of the first phase of The Avenues Riyadh will start in the last quarter of this year, he said. The project will cost $3.5 billion (Dh12.8 billion), and 60 per cent of the financing will come from bank debt.