The Protagonists

Saud Abdulaziz Al Gosaibi

Saud Abdulaziz Al Gosaibi is the president and managing director of Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi & Brothers Company (AHAB), a family-owned business group based in Al-Khobar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Mr Al Gosaibi was born in 1963. He is married with six children. He lives in Al-Khobar and has houses in Dubai, London and Beirut.

He is the only son of Abdulaziz Hamad Al Gosaibi, who, with his two brothers, founded the AHAB Group. On his father’s death in 2002, Saud Abdulaziz Al Gosaibi, along with his six sisters, inherited their father’s one third share in AHAB. One of Mr Al Gosaibi sisters is married to Mann Al-Sanea, owner of the Saad Group.

Mr Al Gosaibi graduated in May 1988 from St. Edwards University at Austin, Texas with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and a major in Finance.

Today, the AHAB Group’s business partners include international groups such as Pepsico and Crown Group of the United States, Sumitomo Corporation of Japan, ShawCor of Canada, and Jotun & GAC of Norway.

The group has invested heavily throughout the Middle East including Bahrain, the U.A.E., Iraq, Jordan & Tunisia. AHAB owns Bahrain-based lender The International Banking Corporation (TIBC).

Mr Al Gosaibi is also chairman of Nama Chemicals, a publicly traded Saudi company. He was the Chairman of the Samba Financial Group, though that bank announced in September 2009 - three months before the end of his term - that Mr Al Gosaibi was "no longer Chairman and a board member." Similarly, on 25 November 2009 Saudi Re informed the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawwul) that Mr Al Gosaibi had resigned as a director in view of his other commitments.


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Maan Abdul Wahed Al-Sanea


Maan Abdul Wahed Al-Sanea is a Saudi Arabian businessman who founded the Saad Group in 1980 as a municipal engineering contractor in the rapidly-growing Saudi Arabian maritime city of Jeddah on the country’s Red Sea coast. The company flourished and now has diverse operations in construction and engineering, property development, financial services and an international investment portfolio.

Mr Al-Sanea was born in 1955. He graduated as a pilot officer in the USA, having completed a Masters in Aviation. He recently was awarded an Honorary PhD from City University, London. He is married to a sister of Saud Al Gosaibi, managing director of AHAB. They have five children and live in Al-Khobar, in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Mr Al-Sanea was an elected board member of Samba Financial Group in 2004. He is a board member of BSI-Ifabanque S.A Paris, Aziziyah investment company (a subsidiary of Kingdom) and the Gulf Real Estate company. In addition, he served on various hedge fund boards and is a member of the advisory board of Permal Emerging Markets Holding (PEMH).

In April 2007, Mr Al-Sanea became HSBC’s second largest shareholder when he paid £3.3 billion for a 3.11 per cent stake in the bank. His other UK investments are believed to include 3i, the venture capital group; the Resolution life assurance company; the Berkeley Group; and small UK companies such as Biocare Solutions and Ceravision.

He is known to be a major charitable contributor, having established the Al-Sanea Center for Children with Communication Disorder, and has made various donations to institutions and universities at home and abroad.