Saudi's Kingdom Holding among group investing US$247m in Lyft
[DUBAI] Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding , the investment firm of billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said on Thursday it had led a group of investors which bought 5.3 per cent of US ride-hailing firm Lyft Inc for US$247.7 million.
Lyft, Uber Technologies Inc's biggest competitor in the United States, is looking to raise up to US$1 billion in a Series F funding round, according to filing provided by VC experts earlier this week.
Kingdom, Prince Alwaleed and other parties invested US$100 million in the Series F capital increase, with Kingdom taking a US$31 million share, the Saudi firm said in a bourse filing without naming the other investors.
In addition, Kingdom and Prince Alwaleed invested US$147.7 million to acquire preferred shares in Lyft in the secondary market. Kingdom's share of this invetment was US$73.9 million.
Kingdom, which now owns 2.3 per cent of Lyft on an as-converted basis, used existing available funds for the acquisition, it said.
Lyft, a privately held transportation network company based in San Francisco, makes a smartphone app that facilitates peer-to-peer ridesharing by connecting passengers who need a ride with drivers who have a car.
Kingdom and Alwaleed are major investors in US companies in the technology and other sectors; together they own more than 5 per cent of Twitter Inc.
REUTERS
KEYWORDS IN THIS ARTICLE
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Transport & Logistics
Heathrow faces further strike action in May from ground staff
Boeing bid for Spirit AeroSystems hits snag over Airbus assets
Tesla to cut 400 jobs in Germany via voluntary programme
GE Aerospace raises earnings goal on strong engine sales
UPS profit beats estimates as cost cuts offset weak delivery demand
General Motors beats quarterly results targets, raises forecast