Hollande and Alwaleed meet at Elysee Palace
Arab News
June 29, 2015
French President François Hollande and Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding
Company (KHC), held a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
In a strategic alliance between France and KHC, a consortium of France’s big companies led by the
CDCIC International Capital, the International investment arm of Caisse des Depots, France’s
Sovereign Wealth Fund, announced that they have approved an investment in Kingdom Holding
Company. The deal constitutes the acquisition of KHC’s shares with a minimum amount of $150
million (SR563 million) subject to increase. The number of shares and acquisition share price will be
determined at a time closer to execution. The share price will be based on the trading price of the
stock on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). The investment is subject to applicable regulatory
approvals under the Saudi Capital Markets Authority recently issued rules for Qualified Foreign
Financial Institutions Investment in listed shares. Prince Alwaleed, who will be retaining his full
ownership stake in KHC, welcomed this important and strategic milestone deal that is taking place
pursuant to the Capital Market Authority opening to foreign investors. In a separate deal, Kingdom
Holding and CDC France’s SWF had announced a launch of $400 million fund. The investment fund
will be to seek attractive investment opportunities in smalland medium size enterprises in Saudi Arabia
with the participation of large French corporates, in addition to diversifying KHC’s investment portfolio.
The meeting began as Prince Alwaleed greeted President Hollande. The two discussed political,
economic and cultural matters. They also discussed the bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and
France, and the strong relations between Prince Alwaleed and France.