Al Waleed falls six places but is still richest Arab

Dubai: Saudi Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, a shareholder in Citigroup, fell six places in the Forbes magazine list of billionaires this year to 19th, though he remained the richest Arab with a $21 billion fortune.Kuwait's Nasser Al Kharafi and Egypt's Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom, held on as the second and third-richest Arabs, with $14 billion and $12.7 billion respectively.

Saudi Arabia's Mohammad Al Amoudi, whose businesses include oil, gas and construction, slipped to sixth place.

Onsi Sawiris, who founded the Orascom group of businesses, which includes construction and telecommunications, rose three places to number five with $9.1 billion and his son, Nassef, to fourth from tenth with $11 billion.

Nassef is chairman of Orascom Construction Industries.

Saudi Arabia's Maan Al Sanea, who last year bought a 3.1 per cent stake in HSBC Holdings worth £3.3 billion($6.58 billion), fell three places to ninth with $8.1 billion.

Saudi Arabia's Mohammad Bin Eisa Al Jaber, whose interests include real estate and hotels, entered the top ten richest Arabs.

Saleh Al Rajhi, co-founder of Saudi Arabia's Al Rajhi Bank, dropped out. Al Rajhi Bank is the world's largest lender by market value that complies with Islamic law, including a ban on the receipt of interest.

Al Waleed owns 3.6 per cent of Citigroup through his Kingdom Holding and said in January he would invest more in the ailing US bank after it wrote down billions on the subprime mortgage crisis.

Shares of Citigroup have lost about 60 per cent of their value since June.