Saudi prince sells press group shares

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's Kingdom Holding Company announced Sunday the sale of its almost 30-percent share in a press group that publishes pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.

Kingdom Holding (HKSE: 0528-OL.HK - news) said in a statement that it was selling its 29.9% share in the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG) for 837.3 million riyals ($223 million dollars).

SRMG publishes several leading newspapers and magazines, including the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat and the economic daily Al-Eqtisadieh.

The statement did not specify who had bought the shares in SRMG, where one of King Salman's sons, Prince Ahmed, holds 6.8% of the capital.

In February, Prince Alwaleed said he had reduced his stake in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (NasdaqGS: NWS - news) from 6.6% to about 1%.

The Saudi prince holds 95% of Kingdom Holding, a company which is listed on the Saudi stock market.

He also owns Alarab, a pan-Arab news channel, which went off the air a day after its launch in Bahrain last February following an interview it broadcast with a Shiite opposition leader.

Source: AFP