Kingdom set for bank talks on 1km Saudi tower

Kingdom Holding, an investment company controlled by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, plans to hold a meeting with banks on April 15 to discuss financing for the world’s tallest tower in Jeddah, it was reported on Wednesday. BNP Paribas, the financial adviser to Kingdom Holding, was reportedly arranging the meeting in Riyadh, MEED said without saying where it got the information. Kingdom Holding said on March 28 it received shareholder approval to sell as much as SR3.75bn ($1bn) of bonds inside Saudi Arabia or abroad. In February, the final licence to build the Kingdom Tower was awarded. Prince Alwaleed confirmed the paperwork required to start construction of the 1km tower had been received from authorities. The SR4.6bn ($1.22bn) skyscraper, which will be taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa – the current holder of the world’s tallest building title – will be the centrepoint of Kingdom City, Jeddah’s new 5.3m square metre urban development. Located on land in the north of Jeddah overlooking the Red Sea, initial construction work at the $20bn development began last month.