Savola sells $168m stake

Saudi Arabia's Savola Group will sell its 80-per cent stake in a property firm to Knowledge Economic City as it focuses on its core food, retail and plastics business, it said on Tuesday.

The sale of the stake in Al-Mujamaat United Company for Real Estate is valued at 631.1 million riyals ($168.29m), according to a statement.

Savola, which owns the Middle East's biggest sugar refining business and is the largest shareholder in diary giant Almarai Co, will book a 231.4m riyal capital gain on the sale during 2012.

As part of the deal, Knowledge Economic City will get two parcels of land in Medina covering just over 2 million square metres.

Knowledge Economic City, one of four economic cities the kingdom is building to diversify its economy, said the two plots are "a natural extension to KEC land in Medina" and are adjacent to the Haramain high speed train station.

The high-speed Haramain Railway will link Islam's holiest cities Mecca and Medina to the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, a key entry point for millions of pilgrims, and to King Abdullah Economic City, currently under construction.

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