StanChart takes $75m stake in Saudi company
STANDARD Chartered Private Equity yesterday paid $75m (£46m) for a minority stake in Construction Product Holding Company (CPHO), a subsidiary of Saudi construction conglomerate Bin Laden Group.
The Bin Laden Group has benefited from the kingdom’s $400bn (£245bn) infrastructure spending plans, meaning CPHO is well placed to continue growing in the Saudi market.
“We are very bullish on Saudi Arabia. If you look at government spending and a whole lot of other macro-economic factors, it’s the most interesting market post the Arab Spring,” Taimoor Labib, Standard Chartered’s private equity head for the Middle East and North Africa said yesterday.
The bank said it was looking for more deals in the real estate sector in the kingdom, where billions of dollars of spending is planned to boost infrastructure and provide housing for the Gulf state’s growing population.
The kingdom is perceived to be a lucrative market for international private equity firms, and has attracted several large investment over the past year.