Kingdom Holding to invest Careem proceeds in Saudi, Europe

Saudi-based Kingdom Holding Company will put the proceeds from the sale of its stake in ride-hailing app Careem towards $600 million in investments in the Kingdom and Europe, its chief executive told Reuters on Friday.

“We have five companies on the table that are being discussed, deliberated. Hopefully we will be able to come to a conclusion on where to invest within the next eight weeks,” Reuters quoted Talal Ibrahim al-Maiman, its chief executive, as saying in a phone interview.

Some of the companies are in Saudi Arabia and some are in Europe, he said. “We’re talking about $600 million or so.”

“We will not deploy all the cash in one go, but this is the first tranche,” he added. “It’s a combination of debt and equity.”

Kingdom’s investments will be directed 70 percent into income-generating dividend-distributing investments and 30 percent into technology and potential growth companies, he said.

Last week, Kingdom Holding Co. said in a bourse filing that it has sold the stake for SAR 1.25 billion ($333 million), of which it will receive SAR 565 million in cash and the remaining in convertible bonds worth SAR 685 million.