Credit Agricole Exits Saudi Arabia With $386m Fransi Sale

Credit Agricole has sold the final portion of its stake in Banque Saudi Fransi, bringing to an end the French lender’s decades-long investment in one of the kingdom’s largest corporate banks, according to a person familiar with the deal.

The transaction was completed on Sunday and was valued at about 1.4 billion riyals ($386 million), according to information on the Saudi stock exchange’s website, which didn’t disclose the seller or the buyer of the stake.

Alwaleed to buy Credit Agricole's $1.5bn Banque Saudi Fransi stake

The deal will give Kingdom Holding a 16.2 percent stake in Fransi, making Alwaleed the biggest single investor

About 48.3m shares were sold at 30 riyals each. The stock closed at 32.20 riyals on Sunday.

Credit Agricole declined to comment on the transaction. It has been gradually selling off its stake in Saudi Fransi over the past three years. It sold a stake of about 16 percent, about half of the total shares it held in the Saudi lender at the time, to billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in 2017. That was followed by a series of smaller deals with a consortium led by US-based Ripplewood.

The bank has said previously that even as it sells off the stake in Saudi Fransi it wants keep a more limited presence in the country by obtaining a Saudi license for its investment banking unit.