Kingdom : French President Macron & Prince Alwaleed Meet at Élysée

September 7, 2017

HE French President Emmanuel Macron and HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, Chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) and Chairman of Alwaleed Philanthropies, held a meeting at the French presidential Palace, The Elysee.

The President and Prince Alwaleed discussed the latest regional and international developments on the political, social, economic and cultural fronts. During the meeting, they discussed a number of topics related to investments. They also discussed the bi-lateral relations between France and Kingdom Holding Company, as well as the strong relations between France and Prince Alwaleed.

The meeting was attended by Ms. Hassna Alturki, Senior Executive Manager for International Relations to HRH the Chairman, Ms. Manal Alshammary, Senior Executive manager, Office HRH the Chairman, Mr. Kacy Grine, Advisor to HRH the Chairman and Mr. Ziyad Alomair, Executive Assistant to HRH the Chairman.

In a strategic alliance between France & KHC, a consortium of France's largest companies (AXA, ENGIE, EIFFAGE, SUEZ, ORANGE, EREN, SAFRAN & ADP), led by the Caisse des Depots (CDC), France's Sovereign Wealth Fund, invested in Kingdom Holding Company by acquiring KHC's shares with an amount of $150 million dollars (SR 563 million Saudi Riyals).

Moreover, Kingdom Holding & Caisse des Depots (CDC), France's Sovereign Wealth Fund launched a USD 400M fund. The investment fund will seek attractive investment opportunities in small and medium size enterprises in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the participation of French companies, in addition to diversifying KHC's investment portfolio.

Recently, NAS in which KHC owns a 34.08% stake, finalized an $8.6B deal with Airbus for the purchase of new aircraft. Moreover, KHC became a 5.8% shareholder in AccorHotels in a $3.2 billion deal. AccorHotels had signed an agreement with KHC and other investors for the acquisition of FRHI Holdings Ltd (FRHI), parent of Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel hotel brands.

Furthermore, Kingdom Holding Company's presence in France, is considered to be the largest Saudi Arabian presence in France through the ownership and management of the iconic landmark, The Four Seasons Hotel George V, the management of Le Royal Monceau Hotel (Raffles), Disneyland, Paris (Euro Disney), 7 hotels in Disneyland, Paris, in addition to the management of the Grand Hotel du Cap Ferrat in the South of France, and through the presence of Citigroup. Also Prince Alwaleed's cultural contributions, through Alwaleed Bin Talal Philanthropies, included a donation of US$20 million in 2005 to establish the Center of Islamic Art at the Musée du Louvre.