Kingdom Holding Company, owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, announced that one of its subsidiaries has signed a binding final agreement to sell half of its stake in Four Seasons Holdings, equivalent to 23.75%, in a transaction valued at a total of 8.29 billion Riyals (with the dollar equivalent to 3.75 Riyals).
In a statement on Wednesday, Kingdom reported that it sold the stake to a subsidiary of Cascade Investments, owned by American billionaire Bill Gates, who is a long-term investment partner of Kingdom Holding in the Four Seasons Hotels. The deal is based on a valuation of 37.5 billion Riyals for Four Seasons Hotels, providing immediate cash proceeds of 8.287 billion Riyals to the subsidiary of Kingdom Holding.
Kingdom Holding expects to achieve immediate pre-tax profits from this transaction of up to 5.887 billion Riyals, and the completion of the deal is anticipated within January 2022, pending clearance from the antitrust authority. Kingdom Holding confirmed that it will continue to own a 23.75% stake in Four Seasons Hotels through its subsidiary, after the transaction, while retaining its representatives on the board of directors of Four Seasons Hotels.
