Saudi tycoon snaps up stake in HSBC

A Saudi Arabian tycoon today emerged as a major shareholder in HSBC after spending £3.3bn (€4.84bn) on a 3.11% stake in Europe's biggest bank.

The acquisition saw the billionaire investor, Maan al-Sanea, pick up around 360 million shares in the banking giant through Singularis Holdings, an investment company based in the Cayman Islands.

The stake is expected to see Mr al-Sanea become one of the largest shareholders in the company, which saw its shares rise more than 1% today.

Mr al-Sanea, who has long-term shareholdings in other big financial firms, including Citigroup, Bank of China and several Middle East firms, ranked number 97 on this year's Forbes billionaire list with an estimated personal worth of US$7.5bn (€11bn).

He amassed his self-made fortune through investment in the construction and finance industries.

He owns Saad Investments which has a near-30% stakeholding in Surrey-based property developer Berkeley and last month formed a joint venture with the firm to invest up to £500m (€734.7m) in building up a landbank of sites for development over the next 10 years.

He also has property interests in Saudi Arabia with Oasis Residential Developments, which develops luxury housing for expatriates.

Mr Al-Sanea is understood to have started building up his interest in February after HSBC saw its share price slide amid problems in the United States.

Shares hit a low of 880p in March after the firm incurred bad debt charges of around US$10.57bn (€15.5bn) last year due to problems with US borrowers defaulting on sub-prime mortgages.