Kingdom Holding, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's investment company, is seeking a loan to help pay for the construction of the world's tallest tower. The company initiated talks with Saudi lenders and has not hired bankers to advise on the financing. Kingdom Holding, 95 % owned by Prince Alwaleed, is seeking to borrow as much as 2 billion SAR by the second half of the year. Kingdom Holding has said it will use bank financing, cash and revenue from the project to build the skyscraper in Jeddah, which will surpass the Burj Khalifa in Dubai as the world's tallest tower. Kingdom Tower, with a height of more than 1,000m (3,281 feet), is expected to cost US$1.2bn to be built. Construction is expected to be concluded in about five-and-a-half years. The company's shareholders last month approved a plan to sell as much as SAR3.75bn of bonds in Saudi Arabia or outside the country. Saudi Binladen Group -hired to build the tower- has invested SAR1.5bn for a 16.6 % stake in Jeddah Economic Company, the project's owner. The building received final municipal approvals in February, as Bloomberg stated. The tower will include a Four Seasons hotel, apartments, offices, three lobbies on the upper floors, and the world's highest observation deck on the 157th level. The building was designed by Adrian Smith, the Chicago architect responsible for the 828m Burj Khalifa, which opened in 2010.
