Riyadh – Mubasher: Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) on Tuesday announced that its board had agreed to purchase 4.766 million shares in ride-hailer Lyft from KHC chairman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

The total value of the purchased shares amounts to SAR 846 million ($225.45 million), KHC said in a bourse statement.

It added that the deal will be endorsed by shareholders in the upcoming general assembly meeting.

The Lyft stake comes as part of KHC's plan to diversify its investments in the startup sector. The purchase will be self-financed, the Saudi investment firm added.

The financial impact of this acquisition will be reflected on Kingdom Holding's financial results for the third quarter of 2018.

The company did not disclose how much this stake represents in US-based Lyft.

KHC's stock declined 1.28% to SAR 8.47 at Monday's close.