SocGen In New London Legal Fight Against Saudi's Saad Group

LONDON (Dow Jones)--French bank SocGen, has joined the U.K. legal scramble against Saudi Arabia's troubled Saad Trading, Contracting and Financial Services Co., filing suit against it in London's High Court for $50 million, according to court documents seen by Dow Jones Newswires.

Saad, once a prestigious family-run business conglomerate, started struggling to repay debts earlier this year, prompting ratings agency Moody's to withdraw all its ratings on the group and forcing Bahrain's central bank to take one of SaadSaad's financial arms into administration.

The Soc Gen filing takes the total of London legal claims against Saad to $80 million, ramping up the pressure on the under-fire group.