SEAMLESS TRANSITION

Saad Alkhorayef, the chairman of the Saudi-based Alkhorayef Group, has been overseeing the family business since 2015. Representing the second generation, he is now seeking to ensure a smooth management handover for the family business, which yielded $1.3 billion in annual revenues in 2023.

- HAGAR OMRAN

The success of the 67-year-old Alkhorayef Group hasn’t been by chance. Founded in 1957 by the late Abdullah Ibrahim Alkhorayef, the group has been fueled by strategic planning, paving the way to becoming the current industrial leader in its home market of Saudi Arabia and beyond.

Today, the Alkhorayef Group has a diversified portfolio of activities in several fields, including water, clean energy, real estate, hospitality, heavy and light industries, defense, operations, and maintenance. The group also invests in venture capital markets locally and internationally. Its startup portfolio includes 10 investments worth a total of $14.5 million. The group invested $500,000 in the Saudi edtech startup Noon Academy in 2021, and $524,000 in U.S. internet company Astranis in 2023.

Now, the group is formulating a management transition in addition to setting a new strategy for its operations. These plans are in line with global recommendations to navigate the current global economic challenges. Post-pandemic dynamics are requiring family businesses to ensure that their multigenerational goals are still achievable in a fast-changing economic environment, according to EY.

“To ensure a smooth management transition for the esteemed legacy of Alkhorayef Group, we are establishing a family pact that will govern the future management of the group. The partners are in complete harmony. We are also developing a coordinated strategy for the operations,” says Saad Alkhorayef, Chairman of the Alkhorayef Group. Both the pact and the new strategy are anticipated to be finalized in 2024, with details still being worked out.