Saudi court approves restructuring of Al-Gosaibi Group

A Saudi court has issued a final ruling approving the restructuring of the Algosaibi Group, bringing an official end to one of the kingdom's largest and longest-running debt disputes.

The group had requested financial reorganization in 2019 under the Saudi bankruptcy law, which was introduced the previous year to increase the kingdom's attractiveness to investors.

According to Reuters, the chief restructuring official, Simon Charlton, said that the Dammam Commercial Court on Sunday issued the final approval order to reorganize the group so that it can no longer be appealed. .

Charlton added that the company will now take steps to begin deregulating its assets and begin monetizing the assets so that it can make distributions to its approved creditors.

The group's creditors include local, regional and international banks. For years, a third of the group's debt has been traded between banks and hedge funds.

The settlement assets include cash liquidity of more than 800 million riyals, a portfolio of traded shares worth about 3.7 billion riyals, and real estate assets in Saudi Arabia.

The company will retain its core operations assets and intends to rebuild these activities and the group after restructuring, possibly through external financing, Charlton said, adding that funding plans were still in the process of being finalized. early.

The Algosaibi Group and Saad Group, owned by businessman Maan Al-Sanea, have been pursued by creditors since they defaulted on debt obligations totaling about $22 billion in 2009.

Al-Gosaibi and Al-Sanea, a relative of the Al-Gosaibi family, are locked in a bitter dispute over who is responsible for the collapse of the two companies in 2009.

Charlton said that the Al-Gosaibi Group would continue to claim Al-Sanea's claim to the Saad Group's property, and that it still held him responsible for its crisis.

Al-Gosaibi Group is one of the first companies to file for restructuring under the new Saudi bankruptcy law.