Kingdom Holding Co., controlled by Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said on Thursday it has invested slightly over  SAR 1 billion ($229 million) in one of Europe's largest insurance and asset management companies.

The investment in UK-based M&G PLC is aligned with Kingdom's strategy of investing in global leaders and diversifying exposure in new and promising sectors, the company said in a statement on Riyadh's Tadawul stock exchange.

M&G is one of the largest savings and asset management companies in Europe, with more than $370 billion in assets under management (AUM), and serves more than 5 million customers across 28 markets.

Last mont, KHC disclosed that it has invested $3.4 billion in new sectors, such as alternative financing, mobility services and artificial intelligence e-commerce. Insurance and asset management was also one of the new sectors it has entered.

KHC’s traditional portfolio includes banking, real estate, healthcare, education, petrochemical, hotel management, hotel real estate, social media, and mining and commercial aviation. It has assets of more than SAR 50 billion.

In May this year, Prince Alwaleed sold 16.87% of Kingdom Holding to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, for $1.51 billion.

(Reporting by Brinda Darasha; editing by Cleofe Maceda) 

brinda.darasha@lseg.com