JEDDAH: Saudi Telecom Co. said it would book an SR621 million ($166 million) gain in the fourth quarter of this year due to expropriation of some of its land holdings by the government.
The company originally announced in June that the government had seized a 1.05 million square meter plot in the Al Faisaliah district of Riyadh with a book value of SR105.3 million.
On Tuesday, Saudi Telecom said the government had begun transferring ownership of the land in exchange for compensation of SR726.3 million.
It added that it did not think the compensation amount valued the land fairly, so it would appeal the decision and announce any changes to the compensation in future.
Land in Al Faisaliah is worth SR1,300-SR1,700 per square meter in the old part of the district and SR1,800-SR2,700 in the ring road industrial zone, consultants JLL told Reuters in June.
Such estimates suggested the land seized from STC could be worth between SR1.36 billion and SR2.83 billion.
Saudi Telecom to book SR621m gain on land transfer to govt
