Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) is a Saudi construction company headquartered in
Jeddah
Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...
,
Hejaz
The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Prov ...
. It is the largest construction company of the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
. The company is owned primarily by the
Bin Laden family.
Founded by
Muhammad Binladin in 1931, the company signed a US$1.23 billion
contractual agreement
A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
to construct the tallest building in the world,
Jeddah Tower in
Jeddah
Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...
in 2011. They are also party to a US$3.4 billion agreement to construct the
Doha Metro located in
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...
.
The conglomerate comprises an estimated 537 companies.
The group's founder was Muhammad Binladin, the father of
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated ...
.
History
The Saudi Binladin Group was founded by
Muhammad Binladin, an impoverished laborer from
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...
. Prior to the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, Binladin and his family emigrated to the coastal plain of
Tihama
Tihamah or Tihama ( ar, تِهَامَةُ ') refers to the Red Sea coastal plain of the Arabian Peninsula from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Bab el Mandeb.
Etymology
Tihāmat is the Proto-Semitic language's term for 'sea'. Tiamat (or Tehom, in m ...
in
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...
and eventually worked as a porter in
Jeddah
Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...
. In 1931, Binladin started his own construction company and soon gained the attention of Saudi Arabia's king and founder
Ibn Saud
Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud ( ar, عبد العزيز بن عبد الرحمن آل سعود, ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin ʿAbd ar Raḥman Āl Suʿūd; 15 January 1875Ibn Saud's birth year has been a source of debate. It is generally accepted ...
. This led to important government contracts such as refurbishing the mosques at
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow v ...
and
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
. In 1964, Mohammed bin Laden was commissioned to reclad the
Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock ( ar, قبة الصخرة, Qubbat aṣ-Ṣakhra) is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, a site also known to Muslims as the ''al-Haram al-Sharif'' or the Al-Aqsa Compound. Its initial ...
in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
.
During the
North Yemen Civil War in 1962–1970, the group protected Saudi Arabia's southern border against the
Yemen Arab Republic
The Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية اليمنية '), also known simply as North Yemen or Yemen (Sanaʽa), was a country from 1962 to 1990 in the northwestern part of what is now Yemen.The United States extend ...
.
Following Muhammad Binladin's death in 1967, the company was headed by Binladin's first wife's brother Muhammad Baharith. In 1972,
Salem bin Laden, the eldest son of Mohammed bin Laden, took over as his father's successor with the assistance of several brothers. Upon Salem's death in a plane crash in 1988, the leadership of the group passed to one of Salem's brothers,
Bakr, the current chairman, along with thirteen other brothers who make up the board of the bin Laden group. The most important of these include Hassan bin Laden,
Yeslam bin Ladin and Yehia bin Laden.
The Group considered an
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...
in 2011, but declined to do so due to a combination of low oil prices, a weak stock market, and bureaucratic obstacles.
In April 2018,
Bakr bin Laden, as well as his brothers Saleh and Saad, transferred their 36.2% stake in the Saudi Binladin Group to the Istidama Holding Company, which is owned by the
Ministry of Finance.
The government of Saudi Arabia subsequently established a five-person committee to run the Binladen Group, which includes of Abdul Rahman Al Harkan, Khaled Nahas, Khalid Al Khowaiter.
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was est ...
described the ownership transfer as a functional
nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...
, with al-Harkan, the committee's chairman, reporting to Finance Minister
Mohammed Al-Jadaan
Mohammed Al-Jadaan ( ar, محمد بن عبد الله الجدعان; born 1963) is a commercial lawyer and co-founder of Al-Jadaan and Partners Law Firm who has served as Saudi Arabia's minister of finance since November 2016 and concurrently as ...
.
al-Karkan subsequently negotiated an 11 billion riyal loan from the
Ministry of Finance.
Current activities
The bin Laden group is represented in most Saudi cities —
Riyadh
Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the ...
,
Dammam
Dammam ( ar, الدمّام ') is the fifth-most populous city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca, and Medina. It is the capital of the Eastern Province. With a total population of 1,252,523 as of 2020. The judicial and administrative ...
— and in a number of capital cities in the region (
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
,
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...
,
Amman
Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 as of 2021, Amman is ...
,
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...
). According to a synopsis by the
PBS news program ''
Frontline
Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield.
Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to:
Books and publications
* ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant
* ''Frontlines ...
'':
*in Egypt the SBG is headed by
Omar bin Laden as Chairman,
Khaled bin Laden as vice chairman, Tarek Helmy as CEO, and represents that country's largest foreign-owned
private equity group, with over 40,000 employees.
*in Lebanon the SBG, represented by Yehia bin Laden, has been holding negotiations with the local authorities for a $50 million share in the project to rebuild the
Beirut Central District within the framework of the
Solidere Project and in conjunction with the
al Baraka Group and the
bin Mahfouz Group.
*in London the SBG set up a representative firm called Binexport in November 1990.
The Group has constructed
Abraj Al Bait Towers
The Clock Towers ( ar, أبراج الساعة, ʾAbrāǧ alsaa'a "Towers of the Clock") is a government-owned complex of seven skyscraper hotels in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. These towers are a part of the King Abdulaziz Endowment Project that ai ...
in Mecca and has been contracted by
Kingdom Holding Company
The Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) ( ar, شركة المملكة القابضة) is a Saudi conglomerate holding company, based in Riyadh. The KHC is a publicly listed company on the Tadawul (Saudi stock exchange). The KHC consists of a select ...
to build the
Jeddah Tower.
On 11 September 2015, while doing construction work in the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, one of the
Group's cranes collapsed due to high winds causing 118 deaths and almost 400 injuries.
As a result, the Saudi king banned the firm from taking new projects while having its current projects reviewed. The Saudi government removed the ban on the Binladin Group in May 2016, allowing them to bid on new projects.
Saudi Arabia projects
#Royal Terminal,
Jeddah
Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...
#
King Abdulaziz International Airport, New Haj Terminal, Jeddah
#
Al Faisaliyah Center
The Al Faisaliyah Centre (or Al Faisaliah Centre, ar, برج الفيصلية) is a commercial skyscraper and mixed-use complex located in the business district of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 267-metre-high office tower, the centrepiece of the Fos ...
#
Madina-
Qassim Expressway
#Um Alqura University, Makkah
#Lotus Compounds, Jeddah
#
Noura bint Abdul Rahman University
#
Abraj Al Bait Towers
The Clock Towers ( ar, أبراج الساعة, ʾAbrāǧ alsaa'a "Towers of the Clock") is a government-owned complex of seven skyscraper hotels in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. These towers are a part of the King Abdulaziz Endowment Project that ai ...
, Makkah
#
Jeddah Tower, Jeddah
#
King Abdullah Economic City
#
Jamaraat Bridge
#Saudi Arabia National Guard Housing Project
#Saudi Arabian Railways Projects CTW-100 and CTW 110
# Al Masjid Al-Haram expansion.
International projects
#
Blaise Diagne International Airport,
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
#
Sharjah International Airport Expansion & Development,
UAE
#
University of Sharjah,
UAE
#Expansion of
Velana International Airport
Velana International Airport (VIA) (Dhivehi: ) is the main international airport in the Maldives. It is located on Hulhulé Island in the North Malé Atoll, nearby the capital island Malé. The airport is well connected with major airports ar ...
,
Maldives
Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...
Website
SBG's Internet
domain name
A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...
, saudi-binladin-group.com, was registered on September 11, 2000, for one year, expiring on the same day as the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
. The domain was later acquired by a
domain speculator.
References
External links
Saudi Binladin Group websiteSaudi Binladin Group websitein United Arab Emirates (.ae) – full version
Bin Laden Groupat
Sourcewatch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saudi Binladin Group
1931 establishments in Saudi Arabia
Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1931
Construction and civil engineering companies of Saudi Arabia
Companies based in Jeddah
Bin Laden family