SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal says he will hold onto his most high-profile investments, while seeking out new targets to diversify his global portfolio

Record ID: 189179

  • Title: SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal says he will hold onto his most high-profile investments, while seeking out new targets to diversify his global portfolio
  • Date: 7th May 2013
  • Summary: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (MAY 6 ,2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM TOWER VARIOUS OF REPORTERS SPEAKING WITH PRINCE ALWALEED AT HIS OFFICE IN KINGDOM TOWER (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRINCE ALWALEED BIN TALAL , SAUDI BILLIONAIRE AND CHAIRMAN OF THE KINGDOM HOLDING COMPANY, SAYING: "We have may be around 20 or 30 hotels in the southern hemisphere, between Middle East, Africa and the far east, and these are for on sale for next two, three, four years." ALWALEED TALKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRINCE ALWALEED BIN TALAL, SAUDI BILLIONAIRE AND CHAIRMAN OF THE KINGDOM HOLDING COMPANY, SAYING: "The idea of splitting Citigroup is dead completely now. The chairman public by that, I think few month ago, said this idea is no more on the table." PICTURE OF ALWALEED ON FRONT PAGE OF A BOOK (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRINCE ALWALEED BIN TALAL, SAUDI BILLIONAIRE AND CHAIRMAN OF THE KINGDOM HOLDING COMPANY, SAYING: "The latest result of Citigroup were the best among all the banks, you have seen that they beaten by far and the indication is very positive frankly at Citigroup." PICTURE OF ALWALEED WITH FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH REPORTER ASKING QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRINCE ALWALEED BIN TALAL, SAUDI BILLIONAIRE AND CHAIRMAN OF THE KINGDOM HOLDING COMPANY, SAYING: "I think it's planned for next two years, either 14 or 15 and there is no rush, like Twitter for example, I mean no rush frankly speaking we are not going to push them to go public fast." REPLICA OF KINGDOM TOWER ON A TABLE REPORTERS SPEAKING TO ALWALEED (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRINCE ALWALEED BIN TALAL, SAUDI BILLIONAIRE AND CHAIRMAN OF THE KINGDOM HOLDING COMPANY, SAYING: "I have talked to certain investment banks to look at opportunities that we may have not seen in our region, actually the emphasis is on our region more than outside our region, so this is really is in motion right now." PICTURE OF ALWALEED ON FRONT PAGE OF BUSINESS MAGAZINE REPORTER SPEAKING WITH ALWALEED (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRINCE ALWALEED BIN TALAL, SAUDI BILLIONAIRE AND CHAIRMAN OF THE KINGDOM HOLDING COMPANY, SAYING: "I think there are two different concepts here. One is to divest completely BskyB or the other one is to buy it completely, and I think right now Newscorp thus controls BskyB, so really to go to a hundred percent ownership is really not a matter of control, it is a matter of economic benefits." VARIOUS OF REPORTERS SPEAKING WITH ALWALEED PRINCE ALWALEED STANDING UP AT THE END OF INTERVIEW
  • Embargoed: 22nd May 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Saudi Arabia
  • Country: Saudi Arabia
  • Topics: Business,Finance,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA34UX3RCU0AQK5S4H5KXMNASQ8
  • Story Text: Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said he will hold onto his most high-profile investments, but will seek out new targets to diversify his global portfolio.
    Kingdom Holding, Alwaleed's investment vehicle, has asked investment banks to identify possible acquisition targets around the world and plans to sell its stake in 20-30 hotels in the next two years, he told Reuters on Monday (May 6).

    "We have talked with certain investment banks to look at opportunities that we may have not seen in our region. This is in motion right now," said Alwaleed, who owns 95 percent of Kingdom.
    Kingdom Holding, which went public in 2007, has a market value of around $17 billion, making it one of the largest listed investment firms in the Middle East.
    Alwaleed, a nephew of King Abdullah, has also moved to divest some of his investments in real estate and hotels in recent months, and said he plans to sell 20-30 more hotels in Africa, the Middle East and Asia in the next two years.
    Kingdom owns stock in hotel ownership and management companies such as Movenpick, Fairmont, Raffles and Four Seasons, which Alwaleed said he would not sell. It also has direct stakes in specific hotels run by these companies.
    Kingdom has been selling such stock in recent months. It booked a $32.9 million gain from sale of some equity in New York's Plaza hotel in December, retaining 25 percent. It also sold its interest in Fairmont Hotel and Raffles Suites & Residences in Manila last year.
    However, despite these plans, he said Kingdom would retain a stake in major hotel companies and in landmark assets.
    Kingdom Holding first-quarter net profit rose 9 percent year-on-year, but the company's share price has dropped 18 percent since the start of 2013.
    Alwaleed said he thought the share price was "just taking a breather" after being one of the strongest performing stocks in Saudi Arabia's all-share index last year.
    Alwaleed said Kingdom would retain its holding in major investments including Citigroup Inc, News Corp, Twitter and its most recent acquisition, the Chinese online retailer 360buy Jingdong.
    Kingdom owns 2 percent of Citi and 7 percent of voting shares in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. It has invested $300 million in Twitter and $160 million in 360buy.
    He said he did not anticipate Twitter would launch an initial public offering (IPO) soon and should draw lessons from Facebook's disappointing launch last year.

    "There's no rush for Twitter to go public. We never push them to go public fast," he said.
    Alwaleed said he had confidence in the performance of new Citigroup Chief Executive Michael Corbat, whose conservative strategy he said was beginning to show in results.
    Citigroup posted a 30 percent increase in first-quarter net profit in April, beating analysts forecasts as the No.3 U.S. bank generated more money from underwriting stock issues and advising companies on mergers.
    The stock has risen 18.8 percent year-to-date and surged nearly 45 percent in the last one year.
    He also said he had not yet decided whether to retain stock in both the entertainment and publishing wings of News Corp after the company carries out plans to split its television and film assets from its newspapers this summer.
    However, he said it would make sense for the media company to try to buy out other investors in British satellite channel BSkyB once the fallout from the scandal of phone hacking at News Corp's British newspaper unit fades into the background.

    "On Sky, there are two concepts here. One is to divest completely BskyB or to buy it completely. And I think right now Newscorp controls BskyB, so really to go to a hundred percent ownership is really not a matter of control, it is a matter of economic benefits," he said.
    News Corp abandoned plans to acquire the rest of BSkyB under political pressure after revelations in 2011 that journalists at one of its British newspapers had hacked into voice mail recordings on a massive scale.
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