Saudi Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding Company Not Shariah-Compliant

Here's an update on the IPO of Saudi Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding Company, which claims, according to the linked Bloomberg report, to have achieved an annual return of 20% over the past 16 years.

I knew the shares would only trade in Saudi Arabia, but I hadn't given thought to the company not being Shariah-compliant. Kingdom Holding has a huge stake in Citigroup, and owns hotels that serve booze, violating the Shariah ban on interest and alcohol. The result is that Kingdom shares may be popular with institutions but less so with retail Saudi investors. Interesting.