WHEN Prince Al Waleed bin Talal was arrested as part of an anti-corruption probe in Saudi Arabia, it was the latest twist in the story of a billionaire who has courted international attention — while cloaking his investments in secrecy.

The wealthiest of the arrestees, Al Waleed was picked up from his desert camp and the authorities did not disclose the allegations that prompted the action by the newly formed anti-corruption body headed by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Despite his being the 50th-richest person in the world, with a $19 billion fortune according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, details on the source of his wealth must be gleaned from public statements by Al Waleed, the website of his holding company and company filings. Often his transactions and assets are disguised by investing through funds that obscure the ultimate beneficiary.

Known internationally for investments in companies including Citigroup Inc and Apple Inc, Al Waleed, 62, hasn’t hesitated to flaunt his wealth. He bought his own A380 superjumbo jet in 2007, planning to kit it out as a “flying palace”. He also launched legal action against Forbes magazine for undervaluing his worth in 2013, before settling the case in 2015. He was a vocal critic of Donald Trump during the US presidential election last year. He later sold the A380 before taking ownership of it, and sought to reconcile with Trump after he was elected president.

“A suspect’s position or status does not influence the firm and fair application of justice,” Sheikh Saud Al Mojeb, attorney general of Saudi Arabia, said in a statement announcing the investigations, without naming names.

Al Waleed’s 95 per cent-owned investment vehicle, Kingdom Holding Co, is listed on the Saudi stock exchange and has a market value of about $35bn — down 8pc on Sunday. Still, details on the investments he has made or the returns they generate are scarce. Kingdom Holding’s latest annual report barely refers to its stake in Citigroup, for example, despite the prince saying he is one of the biggest single investors in the bank. Kingdom Holding is continuing its usual commercial operations and has assurances of support from the government, the company said in a statement.

Some of his highest-profile stakes may take a beating in trading on Monday unless more is heard from them or Al Waleed, said Joice Mathew, head of equity research at United Securities in Muscat.

Here’s what’s known about Alwaleed’s investments.

Finance

Citigroup: Kingdom Holding has held Citigroup shares since 1991, according to its website, enduring even through the bank’s 98pc plunge during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Citigroup’s latest proxy filing doesn’t include him among the two investors that own more than 5pc of the company. Al Waleed long has been a vocal shareholder, encouraging the lender to rebuild its Saudi Arabian business more than a decade after it lost a key banking licence there. Citigroup will reopen in the kingdom later this year after a 13-year absence and lobbying by Al Waleed. Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat met the prince in Riyadh in March to discuss the bank’s future plans. The company declined to comment.

Technology and Entertainment

Twitter Inc: Al Waleed invested $300 million in Twitter in 2011 for what Kingdom’s website says was a “substantial position” in one of social media’s most powerful platforms. He currently owns 4.9pc of Twitter, according to a regulatory filing by the San Francisco-based company in February. In an interview on CNBC Arabia in October, he said Twitter may face some difficulties, though his investment was close to breaking even and he was optimistic about the outlook. Al Waleed has pared his investment from 5.1pc in December 2015. The company declined to comment.

Apple: Al Waleed bought 6.23m shares, or 5pc, of the computer and mobile-device maker for $115.4m in 1997. He made these purchases between mid-March and April of that year while the company was still struggling to turn itself around. He has since continued to hold the stake while Apple’s valuation has soared to as high as $900bn. The company didn’t immediately respond to comment.

Lyft: In 2015, Kingdom Holding was among a group of investors that bought a 5.3pc stake in the California-based ride-hailing company, valued at $247.7m. Lyft’s major investors, Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund, also sold a portion of their shares in the company to Al Waleed last year. The company didn’t immediately respond to request for comment.

21st Century Fox: Another one of his crown jewels is Rupert Murdoch’s media and entertainment company, in which the prince held 39.7m shares, a 4.98pc stake, as of December 31, 2015. That’s lower than the 6.6pc holding he had in the company as of the end of 2013, according to regulatory filings. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

JD.com: Al Waleed has been investing in e-commerce and technology companies for a number of years as demand for technology and internet services increases. In 2013, Kingdom led a group of investors in buying a stake in a Chinese online retailer, now called JD.com, that was valued at $400m. JD.com said it had raised a total of $700m from investors, also including a Canadian pension fund and some major shareholders, in addition to Kingdom. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hotels

Through Kingdom Holding and its Kingdom Hotel Investments unit, Al Waleed has made substantial investments in some of the world’s grandest hotels and biggest operators. Kingdom’s portfolio of luxury hotels includes a controlling interest in The Plaza in New York, the Savoy Hotel in London and the George V in Paris, according to its website. Kingdom Hotels has a 5.7pc stake in Accor SA, Europe’s biggest hotel operator, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Accor declined to comment.

Domestic

Al Waleed owns significant stakes in Saudi companies across the real estate, retail and petrochemical industries. Most recently, Kingdom acquired a 16.2pc of Banque Saudi Fransi from Credit Agricole SA in September. The $1.5bn deal makes Kingdom the biggest shareholder in Saudi Arabia’s fifth-largest bank. Saudi Fransi didn’t respond to requests for comment.

It is the latest addition to a domestic portfolio that also includes a 33pc stake in Jeddah Economic Company, which is developing a real estate project in Jeddah that is set to include the world’s tallest building. Kingdom owns the Kingdom Tower in Riyadh, which includes one of the tallest towers in Riyadh and a Four Seasons hotel. Other investments include a 34pc stake in Flynas, a budget airline that was considering an initial public offering this year, and a stake in food-producer Savola.

By arrangement with Bloomberg-The Washington Post

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2017