[2007-07-05]  Saudi billionaire's company that includes 4 Seasons Hotels to go public
Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, whose holdings include Canada's Four Seasons Hotels Inc., plans to sell shares of his Kingdom Holding company in an initial public offering, the Saudi stock exchange announced Wednesday.

Fully owned by bin Talal, the company holds stakes in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Fairmont Raffles Hotels International Inc., Time Warner Inc., Apple Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Walt Disney Co. and other corporations.

The IPO for five per cent of Kingdom Holding Co. will run from July 10 to 18 on Saudi Arabia's stock exchange, the Saudi market regulator said.

The shares are expected to have a face value of between 10.5 and 11 Saudi riyals ($2.80-$2.93 US) each, valuing Kingdom Holding at about 63 billion riyals ($16.8 billion US), the statement said. The IPO is expected to raise an estimated 3.46 billion riyals ($922 million US).

Kingdom Holding is due to issue a prospectus carrying the final share price and the company's financial details in the days before the offering.


Source: CBC News