LONDON: A Cayman Islands court has frozen $9.2 billion of assets belonging to Saad Group, the Saudi Arabian investment firm at the centre of a financial scandal, including some of its equity stakes outside the Gulf. The ruling was in response to a complaint filed by indebted Saudi family conglomerate Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers Company (AHAB), which is locked in a legal tussle in the United States with the billionaire owner of Saad Group, Maan Al-Sanea. Companies included in the Cayman court ruling, seen by Reuters, include Cayman Islands registered Saad Investments Company Limited (SICL), owner of many of Saad s equity investments outside the Gulf. Bank lenders to SICL, owed up to $2.8 billion, are considering making a claim over these assets, Reuters reported last week. The Cayman Islands freeze order, issued on July 24, prevents Maan Al-Sanea and 42 companies associated with Saad from selling assets. These companies include the group s airline, Saad Air, as well as Singularis Holdings, which bought a 3 percent stake in HSBC in 2007. Following HSBC s capital raising, this stake now totals about 2 percent, analysts at Cazenove said in June, with a current value of about 2 billion pounds ($3.31 billion). Shares bought by Saad also include stakes in Petra Diamonds and Imagination Tech. Saad Group said in a statement late on Thursday the claims made by AHAB in its application to the Cayman court were without foundation, made before a full investigation had taken place and without full information. AHAB s application for the Cayman orders represents a continuation of the baseless, yet public, campaign it has chosen to wage, Saad Group said. Saad itself is working hard with its creditors to determine a fair resolution across the board of all current difficulties, the statement said. AHAB was not immediately available to comment on Friday. - Reuters
