January 30, 2007	Tuesday	Muharram 10, 1428

RIYADH Jan 29: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has announced plans to invest five billion Saudi riyals ($1.4bn) in the Saudi stock market so as to help restore confidence in it and prevent further fall.

The Saudi all share index, Tadawul, dropped on January 24 below 7,000 points for the first time since October 21, 2004. The measure has lost two-thirds of its value since reaching a record in February 2006.

Meanwhile, Arab states have planned to set up a securities authority to attract foreign investment.

Prince Al-Waleed announced investing SR5 billion in four companies in the fields of banking, industrial manufacturing, consumer manufacturing and media. He announced by increasing his stake in the leading local bank Samba to more than 5 per cent.

The remaining of the announced investments are to be divided between the fields of industry and consumer goods through the National Industrialisation Company (Tasnee) raising Prince’s stake in that company to more than 10 per cent and in consumer manufacturing through Savola, raising the stake of his holding company to more than 13 per cent.

In the media sector, the prince announced making a SR2.1 billion new investment by acquiring more than 25 per cent share of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG).

Investments will also be made in other companies that will soon float on the Saudi stock market such as the Medgulf. He also announced plans for investing another 5 billion riyals, or $1.4 billion, in real estate projects in the kingdom.

The investment announced on Sunday adds to $2.7 billion worth of Saudi Arabian share purchases the prince announced in March 2006 to help reverse a slump that had already erased a third of the value of the Saudi benchmark index.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that stock market regulators in 10

Arab countries plan to create a Union of Arab Securities Authority to try and help attract foreign investment.

The regulators will meet on Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates to discuss the details and sign an agreement, the Emirates regulator said on Sunday. Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and the Palestinian Authority are also expected to join the new body.The Middle East was home to eight of last year's 10 worst performers among global equity indexes tracked by Bloomberg News.