Saud Bahwan (Mohammed Saud Bahwan) (born 1938/39) is an Omani billionaire businessman.

Early life and career

Bahwan began as a small-scale trader in Sur, with one

dhow Dhow (; ) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically sporting long thin hulls, dhows are trading vessels ...

, inherited from his father, doing business between Oman and India. In 1965, he moved to the capital,

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

and opened a shop in the

Muttrah Souq Muttrah, () administratively a province, is located in the Muscat Governorate of Oman. Before the discovery of oil in Oman, Muttrah was the center of commerce in Oman (Muscat). It is still a center of commerce as one of the largest seaports of ...

with his brother Saud, named Suhail & Saud Bahwan, initially they traded in construction equipment and fishing nets. In 1968, he obtained the local license for

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, and then one for

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

. The Saud Bahwan Group is now the largest privately owned business in Oman, with diverse business interests including fertilizers, healthcare, construction and automobiles. In 2002, he split with his brother, and as a result, the Saud Bahwan was divided into two groups. In 2016, Bahwan passed much of the responsibility for running the Saud Bahwan Group to Mohammed Nasser, his sixth child, and Amal Bahwan, his second-eldest daughter. In 2021, he was the only Omani on ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

''' annual World's Billionaires ranking. During April 2022, the French prosecutor's office in

Nanterre Nanterre (; ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, b ...

issued an international arrest warrant for Bahwan, along with former Renault CEO,

Carlos Ghosn Carlos Ghosn (; ; ; , born 9 March 1954) is a businessman and former automotive executive. He was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Michelin, Michelin North America, chairman and CEO of Renault, chairman of AvtoVAZ, chairman and CEO of Nissan ...

following an investigation into whether they helped divert funds from carmaker

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

to its former chair and chief executive for personal use. In 2022, his fortune supposedly dropped by $600 million.

Awards

* 2017: Sheikh Issa bin Ali al Khalifa Award for voluntary work by the Arab League

Personal life

Bahwan is married with 15 children, and lives in

, Oman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bahwan, Saud 1930s births Living people People from Sur, Oman Omani billionaires Omani businesspeople Omani company founders