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Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has completed the purchase of 70% of Al Hilal, the most decorated football club in Asia, paying 840 million Saudi riyals, about $224 million.
His Kingdom Holding Company bought the stake from the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, which manages more than $900 billion and retains the remaining 30%. The price implies an equity value of 1.2 billion riyals for the whole club, about $320 million, and an enterprise value of roughly 1.4 billion riyals, or $373 million, once debt is counted. Kingdom Holding is funding it from its own resources rather than borrowing.
The binding agreement was signed on April 16 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh and required clearance from Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Competition.
What Alwaleed has bought is the most successful club in Asian football, and one at the centre of Saudi Arabia's effort to turn its domestic league into a global product. The Public Investment Fund took control of Al Hilal in July 2023 under a programme that privatised four of the country's largest clubs, and it spent the following three years rebuilding the club's governance, operations and infrastructure while lifting revenue from sponsorship, merchandise and matchdays.
Selling now fits a pattern. The fund has been reducing direct ownership of assets it has already improved and recycling the proceeds into the wider Saudi economy, and it has said it wants more private capital involved in what it builds. Yazeed Al-Humied, its deputy governor and head of Middle East and North Africa investments, framed the sale as strengthening the sports sector's appeal to investors while keeping the club financially sustainable.
Alwaleed described Al Hilal as a national symbol and a source of pride for Saudis, said the acquisition reflected his belief in sport as a driver of economic and social development, and told the market that Kingdom Holding would unlock the club's full potential while preserving its history and identity.
The company plans to concentrate on commercial performance, international partnerships and stadium infrastructure.
Kingdom Holding is the vehicle through which Alwaleed has made most of his money, and he owns 78.1% of it. The Public Investment Fund bought 16.87% in 2022, and about 5% trades on the Saudi exchange.
His record was built on distressed bets rather than sports. Alwaleed became internationally known for investing in Citigroup in 1991, when the bank was struggling with Latin American loan losses and a collapse in American property, and he was an early backer of Apple. He has since made large sums from positions in Uber and in Twitter, now X, and in 2023 sold Kingdom Holding a $450 million Citigroup stake from his personal holdings, lifting the company's ownership of the bank to 2.2%.
Latham & Watkins advised Kingdom Holding on the transaction.
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