Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman has stepped up his investment in Britain after acquiring a 49pc stake in Sir Rocco Forte’s luxury hotels group.
Rocco Forte Hotels, which owns the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh and Brown’s in London, has struck a deal with Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), headed by MBS. The deal valued at around £1.2bn.
It comes less than a week after PIF, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, bought a 10pc stake in Heathrow Airport.
PIP has also allocated $8 billion to build hotels and tourist resorts in the Jazan region, well-informed sources revealed.
According to the sources, MBS has ordered the construction of a private palace in the tourist resort.
Saudi’s “Seven”, owned by the MBS-led Public Investment Fund, earlier announced a SAR 1.3 billion entertainment project in Aseer.
The project is SEVEN’s fifth entertainment destination in the Kingdom and the first in the Aseer region.
With an investment value of more than SAR 1.3 billion, the entertainment destination is located between the cities of Abha and Khamis Mushait, near Abha International Airport. The development is set on a land size of 64,000 square metres with a built-up area of more than 79,000 square meters.
SEVEN Abha will be home to eight unique attractions which includes a family entertainment centre offering various experiences from arcade games, unique world-class rides to Virtual reality areas.
There will be a Discovery Adventures jungle-themed edutainment attraction created in partnership with Warner Bros.
Discovery Global Themed Entertainment, an outdoor jungle-themed attraction, a PLAY-DOH themed entertainment centre ; and a 12-hole indoor golf adventure area with the latest technology.
SEVEN is spending more than SAR 50 billion to build 21 entertainment destinations across the Kingdom.
Along the same line, MBS earlier declared intention to invest more than $4 billion in a luxury coastal tourism destination called Epicon that will also include residential offerings, well-informed sources revealed.
Situated on the Gulf of Aqaba, Epicon will have two towers, one standing at 225 metres (m) and the other at 275m.
These towers will house a hotel with 41 rooms and luxury residences, as well as 14 suites and apartments.
Meanwhile, an Epicon resort located near the hotel offers 120 rooms and 45 beachfront residential villas.
This huge spending on sportwashing while Saudi Arabia’s unemployment and poverty rate continue to rise, sparks widespread controversy at home and abroad.
Since taking office, MBS has done nothing worthful for the Saudi society but wars and crises. In contrast, Saudi Arabia has witnessed an unprecedented economic and political crisis
