“The interest of Kingdom Holding shareholders is our most important priority,” KHC Chairman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said, commenting on the issue.

The announcement came after the end of the offer period.

A KHC statement said the company decided to stand by its initial offer and not take another position on the matter, in the best interest of its shareholders.

It said the company believed that the firm’s non-binding conditional bid was a reasonable offer to the shareholders of Kingdom Holding and Zain Kuwait.

KHC said its position was in line with its investment strategy of creating long-term returns to its shareholders.

KHC’s consolidated net income for 2010 that totaled SR605 million, an increase of 50.3 percent over last year’s stands testimony to its solid investment strategy.