Investor disquiet over health of Saudi family firms

When the share price of Britain’s biggest home builder, Berkeley Group Holdings, started falling last Tuesday, stock watchers may have guessed it was yet another round of bad housing news moving the market.

But by the end of the day it emerged the real cause for the slide lay thousands of kilometres away in Saudi Arabia, where Saad Group, a huge conglomerate run by the Saudi billionaire Maan al Sanea, had just instructed Citigroup to sell 16.1 million of Berkeley’s shares.

The Saad Group has suddenly found itself in the international spotlight as it sells assets overseas to help raise capital at home. At the same time, it is seeking to restructure its debt after having its accounts frozen last month by the Saudi central bank.