Saudi billionaire Prince Al Walid bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz on Monday ruled out investing in sanctions-hit Iraq, but said he would invest in Iran at President Mohammad Khatami's request, reported the Gulf Daily News.
"I have received an invitation from Uday, elder son of the Iraqi President (Saddam Hussein), to visit Iraq and invest there, but I rejected the proposal," Prince Walid told a press conference in Riyadh.
The prince said he had received a similar invitation from Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, to which I will respond favorably, the Bahraini paper cited him as saying.
The prince, meanwhile, stressed that he had no investments in Israel, the paper said.
Prince Walid, who runs the Kingdom Holding group with worldwide investments, said he has amassed a personal fortune of $20.3 billion.
The prince, ranked as the world's fifth wealthiest entrepreneur by the US magazine Forbes, built his global financial empire by investing in major companies experiencing hard times, according to the paper.
Prince Walid also said that he had withdrawn $150 million worth of investments from South Korea's Daewoo Motor and Hyundai Motor - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
