Saturday, Apr 16, 2011
RIYADH (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding Co. (4280.SA), run by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said Saturday it did not give up land in the Toshka project in southern Egypt and had already suggested three settlement options with the country's public prosecutor.
"Kingdom Holding did not give up the land in the Toshka project...(the land) has not been confiscated by any party," Kingdom said in a statement posted on the Saudi bourse website.
Alwaleed owns 100,000 feddans, about 100,000 acres, in Toskha, the largest irrigation project undertaken in Egypt since the 1960s.
Last week, Egypt's state-run MENA news agency reported that Alwaleed had decided to give up the land in Toskha after it was seized by the prosecutor after it was discovered that the former agriculture minister signed with the prince a contract that included terms that violated the law and entitled him to unfair benefits.
Kingdom said it offered Egypt's public prosecutor three options to resolve the dispute.
Under the first option, Kingdom would return the land in return for what was spent over the past years "including investments, equipment and salaries and social insurance payments for the workers involved in the project."
The second option entails Kingdom giving up 50,000 feddans to the government at its original purchase price of 50 Egyptian pounds ($8.39) per feddan, and keeping the rest of the land, on which the firm has completed infrastructure and reclamation work.
Under the third option, Kingdom would float the firm running the project as a publicly traded company and give shareholders a chance to participate in the project.
-By Summer Said, Dow Jones Newswires; +966-546-842373; summer.said@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
16-04-11 0712GMT
