Riyadh – Mubasher: The National Service Project Organisation (NSPO) signed a contract to buy Kingdom Agricultural Development (Kadco) shares for EGP 1.25 million ($70,000), according to a local Egyptian newspaper.

The deal was secretly signed in January, and included 10,000 already developed and paid for acres, besides 15,000 under development acres.

An advance of EGP 4.5 million was made as a down payment, Al-Mal reported, adding that the deal included infrastructure facilities; the most important of which are the water pumping stations for Saudi prince Al Waleed’s lands.

Al-Rajhi’s group, which owns adjacent lands in Toshka, has offered to acquire Kadco for $17 million, but withdrew the offer without given reasons, the newspaper added.

Toshka’s losses exceeded $89 million.

Kadco, a subsidiary of Saudi prince Al Waleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), was established in 1998 with $1000 in capital for the reclamation and development of 100,000 acres in Toshka. Since then, the company’s capital increased to $55 million, and got nearly $34 million in loans from the shareholders.