GENEVA: A Saudi princess has bought a historical Geneva estate that once belonged to a former Swiss president for 57.5m Swiss francs ($62m), media reported yesterday. Princess Latifa bint Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is 54 and a daughter of former king Fahd, bought the 18,800-square-metre estate from the wealthy Nordmann family that co-owns upscale department store chain Manor and the maker of Lacoste clothing. The purchase price for the property, which once belonged to Gustave Ador who served as Swiss president early in the 20th century, is the second-highest on record in the city. The daughter of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Dinara Kulibayeva, holds the current record after she bought a property on the posh southern shores of Lake Geneva in 2009 for 74.7m Swiss francs. The princess, who like Kulibayeva has settled nearby, has committed to “preserving the heritage”, the Tribune de Geneve daily reported.
Mumtalakat signs
$250m loan deal
DUBAI: Bahrain sovereign fund Mumtalakat said yesterday that it had signed a $250m loan to help refinance part of a larger five-year facility. The revolving credit facility covers about half of a $500m five-year loan which the fund had signed in August 2008. The other half had been partly repaid and partly refinanced over the past two years, the fund said. The loan forms part of Mumtalakat’s overall financing and funding strategy, Mahmood Al Kooheji, CEO of Mumtalakat, said. Five banks — National Bank of Bahrain, Gulf International Bank, BBK, Jordan’s Arab Bank and Dubai’s Mashreq — provided the new loan.
Midyan gas field project on track
DOHA: Saudi Arabia’s Midyan gas field project in the Red Sea is expected to produce 75m cubic feet of gas per day, Saudi Aramco’s chief executive said. Saudi Arabia is trying to boost its gas production quickly enough to meet rapidly rising domestic power demand and feed its booming petrochemical industry. “The field development of Midyan is going ahead steadily as planned in all respects,” Khalid Al Falih said. Gas from Midyan will be pumped to the province of Duba to feed new power stations planned by the Saudi Electricity Company and Aramco, Al Falih said.
Agencies
