To: Jim Bishop who wrote (8331 ) 8/29/1999 5:08:00 PM From: Jim Bishop Respond to of 150070
PRINCELY SUM NOT ENOUGH FOR WALL ST. INVESTMENTS By JAMES B. KELLEHER Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi billionaire, says the U.S. stock market is still way too rich for his blood. The Prince - one of the world's 10 richest men, with a net worth of more than $14 billion - said he is wary of any new investment because he believes Wall Street is about to take a fall. The 44-year-old prince has built a reputation as a savvy value investor and holds stakes in Citigroup, Apple Computer and News Corp., which owns The Post. "The market is overvalued," he told Bloomberg News during an interview on his 281-foot yacht anchored off Cannes, France. "The slightest scare will cause a major correction." The Prince built his Midas reputation in 1991, when he invested $590 million into Citicorp, which was than mired in bad real-estate loans and problems in Latin America. When Citicorp an033 . 0002.08nounced its merger with Travelers earlier this year, Alwaleed's stake was said to be worth a whopping $6.4 billion. In 1995, he invested $80 million in Canary Wharf, a then-troubled business development outside London's financial center. Today, Canary Wharf is the city's hottest address and his stake is reportedly worth almost $220 million. That keen eye has prompted some to compare him with Warren Buffett, the Omaha investor behind Berkshire Hathaway. When Alwaleed invests, he buys big, normally snapping up a 5 percent stake in the companies that catch his fancy. Apple Computer, Motorola, Donna Karan International and Teledesic are all part of Alwaleed's portfolio, which he manages from inside his $200 million palace in the Saudi Arabian city of Riyadh. But whether he's investing or speculating, the prince, a practicing Muslim, insists he never invests in tobacco or alcohol stocks. 033 . 0000.00Still, a substantial chunk of the estimated $500 million Alwaleed made last year came from trading rather than investing, as the Prince made like a day trader and bought and sold shares to take advantage of intraday volatility. And even though he says he's on the sidelines in the stock market today as far as investing is concerned, it's clear he's still doing a fair amount of trading. He told Bloomberg, for instance, that he made $20 million last month trading stocks, though he refused to say what stocks he traded. Alwaleed has picked some dogs over the years. Among his worst choices have been Planet Hollywood, Euro Disney and Proton, the troubled Malaysian car manufacturer. He told Bloomberg yesterday that he's particularly leery of Internet companies, which he says are preposterously overpriced. "I won't get into Yahoo! at these crazy valuations," he said.033 . 0000.00 00000