Dubai: Shares of Kingdom Holding Co. plunged after billionaire chairman prince Alwaleed bin Talal was arrested as part of an anti-corruption purge in Saudi Arabia.
The stock fell as much as 9.9% at the open in Riyadh and closed 7.6% lower, the lowest since June 2012. The benchmark Tadawul All Share Index erased losses to close 0.3% higher.
Acting on orders from a newly established anti-corruption committee, headed by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, police arrested 11 princes, four ministers and dozens of former ministers, the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported.
Alwaleed was among those detained, according to a senior Saudi official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The prince, who is valued at $19 billion in Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is a nephew of King Salman.
Alwaleed is one of the world’s richest men and has an extensive portfolio that includes a stake in Citigroup Inc., which the prince has held since 1991. Kingdom Holding, in which he owns 95%, is also an investor in Twitter Inc., JD.com Inc., the Four Seasons hotel chain and Accor Hotels.
Separately, the investment firm posted a third-quarter profit of 247.5 million riyals ($66 million) after a loss of 355 million riyals a year ago. Revenue rose 76% to 550 million riyals. Bloomberg