Mubasher: Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), the Riyadh-listed investment conglomerate controlled by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, is backing a potential consolidation between Middle East ride-hailing firm Careem and its US rival Uber Technologies, the CEO of KHC said.

“We don’t interfere nor are we party to the discussions, and if it ever happens I think we are supportive of it yes,” Talal Bin Ibrahim Al Maiman told Bloomberg News in an interview.

In July 2018, Uber initiated preliminary talks with its Dubai-based rival to merge their Middle Eastern ride-hailing services.

Both companies, which seek to resolve a costly rivalry, have considered a slew of potential deal structures, but they have not reached an agreement yet, the New York-based news agency previously reported.

The deal could value Careem at $2 billion to $2.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said in September.

Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed, whose KHC has a seat on Careem’s board, joined the ride-hailing app’s $500 million-fundraising round in 2017.

Spin-off

KHC may be ready to spin off some of its property investments in 2020, Al Maiman said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“We are not yet into the spinning mode, we are in development mode,” he said, adding that KHC has also signed term sheets for a $1 billion loan with two local lenders and four overseas banks, Al Maiman noted.

During the first nine months of 2018, Kingdom Holding achieved a 6.97% rise in net profit after zakat and tax of SAR 634.263 million, compared to SAR 592.935 million in the same period of 2017.