Is One Of The World's Biggest Shoppers Ready To Spend?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jan 11th 2010 at 9:00PM

Last year was rough for everyone even one of the world's richest men Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Sure he's still building that gilded Airbus A380 with the garage for his Rolls-Royce but last year saw his Kingdom Holdings sell off a 50 percent stake in the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva and other hotel assets.

But a recent AFP story has the prince preparing for a spending spree. He has transferred 180 million of his own shares in Citigroup into Kingdom Holdings giving the struggling company a lovely boost of approximately $597 million in value. He says this was done because the group is getting ready to invest in new hotels in the Gulf region including the Kingdom Tower, a skyscraper in Jeddah on the Red Sea that would be taller than the newly opened Burj Khalifia. It's also a vote of confidence for Citi that the shares will generate profit for Kingdom allowing it to continue to spend. The action sends a strong message to the world that when it comes to real estate development, the Gulf is still reaching for the stars.

Tags: burj khalifa, BurjKhalifa, citigroup, jeddah, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, PrinceAlwaleedBinTalal