Saudi Prince sells his stake in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for $188 million

Saudi Prince sells his stake in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for $188 million

MUMBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding, the investment firm owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has sold majority of its stake in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

 

During its portfolio review last year, Kingdom Holding decided to reduce the size of its investment in NewsCorp via an orderly disposal program that was predominantly executed in the first half of 2014 and successfully completed by the end of the year. As a result, KHC has decreased its holding in NewsCorp from 13,184,477 class B shares, representing approx. 6.6 per cent ownership to 2,000,000 class B shares, representing approx. one per cent ownership, generating $188 million dollars.  

 

However, the company continues to holds its 6.6 per cent share in News Corp’s company Twenty-First Century Fox, worth approximately $1.7 billion at current market prices.

 

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal said, “The reduction of KHC’s holding in News Corp has been decided in the context of a general portfolio review. We remain firm believers in News Corp’s competent management, led by CEO Robert Thomson, and are fully supportive of Rupert Murdoch and his family. Our investment in Twenty-First Century Fox, constitutes a solid foundation for our long standing relationship that we expect will endure. Twenty-First Century Fox owns a 19 per cent stake in Rotana Group that I own independently from Kingdom Holding.”

 

Kingdom Holding CFO Mohammed Fahmy added, “As an actively managed holding company, KHC reviews its portfolio of publicly listed and private investments on a regular basis. Decisions to add, hold, dispose of or reduce particular investments are always considered in the context of the overall portfolio allocation.” 

 

Kingdom Holding held a stake in Murdoch’s media conglomerate since 1997.