Kingdom Holding moves on Al Hilal

Kingdom Holding Company, controlled by Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, has agreed to buy a 70% stake in Al Hilal Club Company from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, marking one of the clearest signs yet that the kingdom’s high-profile football privatisation drive is moving from state-backed expansion to commercial exits.

The binding share sale and purchase agreement values Al Hilal at an implied enterprise value of about 1.4 billion Saudi riyals, with an equity valuation of 1.2 billion riyals. Based on that equity value, Kingdom Holding’s 70% stake will cost 840 million riyals, funded from the company’s internal resources. The deal still requires regulatory approvals, including clearance from the General Authority for Competition, before it can close.

The transaction gives Kingdom Holding control of the most decorated club in Saudi football and one of Asia’s strongest sports brands. Al Hilal was founded in 1957 and was incorporated as a company in 2023 as part of the restructuring of leading sports clubs. The Saudi Exchange filing describes the club as having won 90 official titles, including four AFC Champions League crowns and 21 league championships, while also highlighting its large fan base across the Middle East.

For Public Investment Fund, the sale fits a broader financial and policy logic. PIF took majority stakes in four leading clubs in 2023 as Saudi Arabia accelerated an overhaul of its domestic football economy under Vision 2030. That intervention helped transform club balance sheets, governance structures and commercial visibility, while also coinciding with a surge of spending on players, infrastructure and sponsorships. PIF now says the Al Hilal sale aligns with its strategy of maximising returns and redeploying capital into the domestic economy, suggesting the fund sees at least some club holdings as transitional rather than permanent.

For Kingdom Holding, the acquisition broadens an investment portfolio better known for exposure to hospitality, real estate, banking and technology. The company said the purchase is intended to expand its presence in sports and entertainment, sectors it views as having strong long-term economic and social potential. It also said Al Hilal under its ownership would focus on stronger commercial performance, wider international partnerships and further investment in sports infrastructure.

Prince Al Waleed framed the deal in national as well as commercial terms, calling Al Hilal a symbol of pride and presenting sport as a driver of economic and social development. That language is consistent with Saudi Arabia’s wider effort to position football not only as a business asset but as part of a diversification strategy that blends entertainment, tourism, branding and soft power. Even so, the move also underlines a more practical question facing the kingdom’s sports economy: whether flagship clubs can generate sustainable private-sector returns after a period of heavy state-backed growth.

The financial trajectory disclosed by Kingdom Holding gives some indication of why Al Hilal may have appealed to a strategic buyer. Revenue from the club’s main activities rose to 842 million riyals in the year ended 30 June 2025, from 659 million riyals a year earlier and 413 million riyals in 2023. That pace of growth suggests Al Hilal has been able to convert its status, sponsorship appeal and on-pitch success into a sharply larger revenue base, even if the longer-term profitability picture will be watched closely by investors and rivals alike.

There is also a governance angle. Kingdom Holding’s market disclosure notes that PIF is already a substantial shareholder in Kingdom Holding, with a stake of just under 17%, and that one of Kingdom Holding’s directors has an indirect interest because of an executive role at PIF. The company disclosed those relationships as part of the transaction record, a reminder that high-value Saudi corporate deals can still sit within an ecosystem of overlapping state and private capital.

On the pitch, Al Hilal remains one of the league’s central assets. Reuters reported that the club was second in the Saudi Pro League on 68 points from 28 matches at the time of the announcement, underlining that this is not a distressed or dormant asset changing hands, but an elite club being transferred while still competing at the top end of domestic football. That should strengthen Kingdom Holding’s ability to market the acquisition as both a prestige asset and a business platform.