Ho Jinx + Old Fart leh? So much time to leeport on others, but diam diam on the Familee SHIT?
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Published January 22, 2009
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Saudi firm loses US$8b in last 3 months of 2008 Kingdom Holding's bet on Citigroup failed to pay off
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(DUBAI) The Saudi investment company that bet big on now-ailing Citigroup and other major global companies said on Tuesday that it lost more than US$8 billion in the last three months of 2008.
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Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's Kingdom Holding attributed the drop to losses stemming from the company's investments in capital markets, according to a statement posted on the Saudi Tadawul exchange's website. Kingdom Holding said it lost 30.98 billion riyals (S$12.43 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2008.
That compares with a gain of 255.6 million riyals in the same period a year earlier.
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'The loss is phenomenal,' said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Saudi British Bank . 'This is the biggest corporate story for Saudi Arabia in many years.'
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'It's not a surprise given how far global markets have fallen that some of his investments would see a drop of that magnitude,' said Emad Mostaque, a London-based Middle East equity fund manager at Pictet Asset Management, which oversees about US$100 billion globally.
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Mr Alwaleed, a nephew of Saudi Arabia's king, has stood out among more than 2,000 Saudi princes for his stock picking. After earning a bachelor's degree from Menlo College near San Francisco, he returned to the Persian Gulf and parlayed an inheritance of less than US$1 million into a billion-dollar fortune in the 1980s. Kingdom Holding has evolved from a real estate investment company into one of the largest investment companies in the US and elsewhere by investing in well-known companies, such as Apple and News Corp.
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The 52-year-old is ranked as the world's 13th-richest person by Forbes magazine.
He has recently taken a big hit in his holdings, however. Dubai-based magazine Arabian Business reported last month that Mr Alwaleed's net worth fell to
US$17.08 billion from US$21 billion in 2007. The magazine at that time said that he remained the world's richest Arab.
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In November, Mr Alwaleed announced he would raise his stake in Citigroup Inc to
5 per cent, from less than 4 per cent - a move that came as the banking giant was facing a possible collapse.
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Citigroup last week posted a loss of US$8.29 billion, its fifth straight quarterly deficit, and laid out plans to reorganise itself. The company's shares have lost more than 80 per cent of their value in the past year.
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Mr Sfakianakis said that although Kingdom Holding's loss was substantial, it doesn't come as a complete surprise given the declines in markets around the world. 'I wouldn't downplay it, but at the same time . . . you can fairly say that the top 50 businessmen throughout the world have seen similar, significant losses taking place throughout 2008,' he said. -- AP, Bloomberg
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Published January 22, 2009
>>
Saudi firm loses US$8b in last 3 months of 2008 Kingdom Holding's bet on Citigroup failed to pay off
>>
Email this article
Print article
Feedback
>>
>>
(DUBAI) The Saudi investment company that bet big on now-ailing Citigroup and other major global companies said on Tuesday that it lost more than US$8 billion in the last three months of 2008.
>>
>>
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's Kingdom Holding attributed the drop to losses stemming from the company's investments in capital markets, according to a statement posted on the Saudi Tadawul exchange's website. Kingdom Holding said it lost 30.98 billion riyals (S$12.43 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2008.
That compares with a gain of 255.6 million riyals in the same period a year earlier.
>>
'The loss is phenomenal,' said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Saudi British Bank . 'This is the biggest corporate story for Saudi Arabia in many years.'
>>
'It's not a surprise given how far global markets have fallen that some of his investments would see a drop of that magnitude,' said Emad Mostaque, a London-based Middle East equity fund manager at Pictet Asset Management, which oversees about US$100 billion globally.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
Mr Alwaleed, a nephew of Saudi Arabia's king, has stood out among more than 2,000 Saudi princes for his stock picking. After earning a bachelor's degree from Menlo College near San Francisco, he returned to the Persian Gulf and parlayed an inheritance of less than US$1 million into a billion-dollar fortune in the 1980s. Kingdom Holding has evolved from a real estate investment company into one of the largest investment companies in the US and elsewhere by investing in well-known companies, such as Apple and News Corp.
>>
The 52-year-old is ranked as the world's 13th-richest person by Forbes magazine.
He has recently taken a big hit in his holdings, however. Dubai-based magazine Arabian Business reported last month that Mr Alwaleed's net worth fell to
US$17.08 billion from US$21 billion in 2007. The magazine at that time said that he remained the world's richest Arab.
>>
In November, Mr Alwaleed announced he would raise his stake in Citigroup Inc to
5 per cent, from less than 4 per cent - a move that came as the banking giant was facing a possible collapse.
>>
Citigroup last week posted a loss of US$8.29 billion, its fifth straight quarterly deficit, and laid out plans to reorganise itself. The company's shares have lost more than 80 per cent of their value in the past year.
>>
Mr Sfakianakis said that although Kingdom Holding's loss was substantial, it doesn't come as a complete surprise given the declines in markets around the world. 'I wouldn't downplay it, but at the same time . . . you can fairly say that the top 50 businessmen throughout the world have seen similar, significant losses taking place throughout 2008,' he said. -- AP, Bloomberg
