Kingdom Holding To Sell NY Plaza For $32.9m Profit

Kingdom Holding Co, the investment firm owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said on Tuesday it will book a $32.9 million profit on the sale of New York’s Plaza Hotel to an Indian conglomerate.

Kingdom said Sahara India Pariwar had completed its purchase of a 75 per cent stake in the Plaza for $575 million. The Saudi firm will retain a 25 per cent equity stake in the property, which includes the hotel, condos and retail space among others.

In July, Kingdom’s Israeli-owned partner in the hotel, Elad Properties, agreed to sell its Plaza stake to Sahara.

The 105-year-old luxury hotel overlooking New York’s Central Park has a hotel portion which spans 230 rooms and so-called retail portion which encompasses the hotel’s banquet hall, fitness center and other common areas.

Kingdom, which holds minority stakes in some of the world’s top companies including Citigroup Inc, reiterated Fairmont Hotels & Resorts will continue to manage the hotel.

The Saudi firm also owns stakes in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and microblogging site Twitter.