Hollande and Alwaleed meet at Elysee Palace

RIYADH: 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 small and 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.