The Savola Group () is a Saudi Arabian industrial company. The group's major holdings supply Saudi Arabia, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

with edible

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

, fresh

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

products, and restaurants serving fast foods. The group also owns the largest grocery retailing chain in the Middle East,

Panda Retail Company Panda Retail Company () is a Saudi Arabian grocery retailing company. Panda is one of The Savola Group's subsidiaries. The Savola Group is ranked ninth amongst the top 100 companies in the Saudi Arabian market and ranked second amongst the indus ...

. It is ranked as number 9 among top 100 companies in the Saudi Arabian market and ranked as number 2 among the industrial sector after

SABIC Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (), known as SABIC (), is a Saudi chemical manufacturing company. 70% of SABIC's shares are owned by Saudi Aramco. It is active in petrochemicals, chemicals, industrial polymers and fertilizers. It is the second ...

. Savola has recently listed its Oils and Fats division in the Saudi Stock market under the name Afia International. It was founded in 1979 as Saudi Vegetable Oils and Ghee Co., initially the company's business was importing and refining edible oil. Savola is the kingdom's biggest food company by revenue. According to

Al-Waleed bin Talal Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud (; born 7 March 1955) is a Saudi Arabian billionaire businessman, investor, and a House of Saud royal. In 2008, he was listed on ''Time'' magazine's ''Time 100'', an annual list of the hundred most influential people ...

, "This group was established by me and some of my allies...I'd created what you could call the 'Nestlé of the Middle East' – the Savola Group, which is a very dominant force in its field."

Acquisitions

In 2009, Savola signed a deal with Alhokair Group to buy Geant supermarket outlets in Saudi Arabia. In October 2011, Savola bought 78% of Egypt's Al-Malika and Al-Farasha companies. In 2018, Savola acquired 51 percent stake of

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

-based Al Kabeer Group. In 2022, Savola acquired Egybelg.

References

External links

Savola Group
Companies based in Jeddah Food and drink companies of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian brands {{SaudiArabia-stub