The SBG was founded in 1931 by SheikhMohammed bin Awad bin LadenSayyid, whose relationship with the country's founder, Abdulaziz Al Saud, led to important government contracts such as refurbishing the mosques at Mecca and Medina. In 1964, Mohammed bin Laden was commissioned to reclad the Dome of the RockinJerusalem.[4] After the death of Sheikh Mohammed in 1967, the group was headed by Mohammed Bahareth, brother of Mohammed's first wife and uncle of his oldest children. 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, 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.[citation needed]
The Group considered an initial public offering in 2011, but declined to do so due to a combination of low oil prices, a weak stock market, and bureaucratic obstacles.[3]
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.[3] 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.[3]Reuters described the ownership transfer as a functional nationalization, with al-Harkan, the committee's chairman, reporting to Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan.[3] al-Karkan subsequently negotiated an 11 billion riyal loan from the Ministry of Finance.[3]
The bin Laden group is represented in most Saudi cities — Riyadh, Dammam — and in a number of major cities in the region (Beirut, Cairo, Amman, Dubai). According to a synopsis by the PBS news program Frontline:[5]
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.
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.[8] 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.[8]
SBG's Internet domain name, saudi-binladin-group.com, was registered on September 11, 2000, for one year, expiring on the same day as the September 11 attacks. The domain was later acquired by a domain speculator.[9]
