*RIYADH – *Saudi Arabia to auction off properties of indebted billionaireMaan al-Sanea.
Sanea, ranked by Forbes in 2007 as one of the world’s 100 richest people,was detained last year for unpaid debts dating back to 2009 when hiscompany, Saad Group, defaulted.
His case is separate from the scores of Saudi businessmen and prominentfigures who were held on corruption charges last year at Riyadh’s RitzCarlton hotel, although it touches on similar investor concerns aboutcorporate governance.
In what was Saudi Arabia’s longest-running debt dispute, creditors havespent the past nine years pursuing Saad Group, which is based in theEastern Province, for debt repayment.
Etqaan Alliance, the consortium appointed late last year by a three-judgetribunal to resolve Saad’s debt dispute, will sell the assets over fivemonths at auctions in the Eastern Province, Riyadh and Jeddah, according totwo sources familiar with the matter.
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The first auction – of undeveloped and commercial land plots, a farm, andincome-generating residential buildings in Eastern Province’s Khobar andDammam – will take place in late October, the sources added.
One source estimated sale proceeds at one to two billion riyals ($267-$533million). A creditor source said the auction had been delayed because ofweakness in the local property market.
