RIYADH, 14 November 2007 — Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), one of the world’s most successful and diversified international investment groups today, won the “Best IPO of the Year” and its chairman Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal was granted the “Outstanding Contribution to the Saudi Arabian Economy” award by the Institute for International Research (IIR), Middle East.
Talal Al-Maiman, executive director of development and local investments at KHC, received both awards on behalf of Alwaleed during the 2nd IPO Summit organized by the IIR Middle East on Sunday, KHC said in a statement yesterday.
“I am proud to have been given the opportunity to receive the “Outstanding Contribution to the Saudi Arabian Economy” award on behalf of Prince Alwaleed, and we at KHC are delighted to have won the “Best IPO of the Year” award. This was possible due to the great efforts of the KHC professionals, our consultants, consultant bankers, investors, the public and the media,” Al-Maiman said.
The 2nd IPO Summit was held under the Patronage of Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud, governor of Riyadh at the Four Seasons hotel. The awards were presented by John Sandwick, IIR chairman and managing director of Encore Management SA, Switzerland. The “Best IPO of the Year” award accredited the work KHC has done to achieve a successful IPO and the “Outstanding Contribution to the Saudi Arabian Economy” award acknowledged Alwaleed’s contribution and support for the development and growth of the Saudi economy.
The award adds to an impressive list of recognitions that both Alwaleed and KHC have received recently. In June of this year, KHC received “Most Admired Company” and Alwaleed “Man of the Year” by Arabian Business, during the Arabian Business Saudi Achievement Awards.
Moreover, Arab News voted KHC as Saudi Arabia’s number one company for four consecutive years. Arabian Business has also voted KHC number one for the past three years in its Top 50 Most Admired Arab Companies rankings and voted Alwaleed the number one in its list of 100 Most Powerful Arabs in the World.
Institutional Investor magazine recently named KHC as the Arab world’s premier investor and Alwaleed one of the individuals in its 40 Years of Power and Influence survey.
KHC’s spectacular investment success has been driven in large part by KHC’s bold, concentrated, perceptive investments in high-quality businesses with undervalued assets and a belief that long-term view is appropriate for most investments.
