Saudi billionaire prince to sell 16.87% of firm to sovereign fund

A Saudi billionaire detained in a 2017 anti-graft crackdown is to sell a 16.87-percent stake of his company to a sovereign wealth fund run by the kingdom’s crown prince, a statement said Sunday.

The sale by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal of 625 million shares of the Riyadh-headquartered Kingdom Holding Company is worth roughly $1.5 billion, according to a regulatory filing published by the Saudi stock exchange, or Tadawul.

The company owns the famed George V hotel in Paris and has a majority stake in The Savoy in London, according to a breakdown of its portfolio on its website.

Al-Waleed, once dubbed the Warren Buffett of Saudi Arabia, struggled to recover his political and financial standing in the kingdom after he was targeted and detained in a crackdown on alleged corruption in 2017.

He was rounded up with more than 300 other prominent Saudis in the anti-graft campaign and held at the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton.

Critics have said the move was a power grab by Al-Waleed’s cousin Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who had been named heir to the throne just a few months earlier.

In January 2018, Al-Waleed was freed, gaunt but seemingly unharmed, after nearly three months in detention.

He declared the ordeal a misunderstanding that had been cleared up, as news swirled that he had reached an undisclosed financial settlement with authorities in return for his freedom.