Saudi Arabia’s Binladin Group appoints senior executives amid restructuring

Balaji Prasad joins as group chief financial officer and Roberto Liuzza is appointed chief organisational excellence officer

A construction worker at the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh. Binladin International Holding Group expects 1 trillion riyals ($26/67bn) of contracts to be awarded in Saudi Arabia by Show more

The holding company of Saudi Arabia's biggest contractor made two senior-level appointments as part of its ongoing restructuring.

Binladin International Holding Group appointed Balaji Prasad as group chief financial officer and Roberto Liuzza as group chief organisation excellence officer.

The pair are among recent appointments made "at a senior level to overhaul the organisation's governance and operations", the company said in a statement on Sunday.

The new hires follow on from the recruitment over the past 12 months of Ahmed Al Sanie as group managing director, Abdulrahman Bajunaid as chief executive of real estate and Samer Khawashki as chief executive of investments, it added.

The holding company was set up in March 2019 to look after various subsidiaries, including the kingdom's biggest contractor, Saudi Binladin Group. BIHG is 36.22 per cent owned by Istidama, an investment arm of Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Finance. The remaining 63.78 per cent is owned by the Binladin Company for Development and Commercial Investment.

Mr Prasad previously worked as chief financial officer of Abu Dhabi-based developer Manazel and held senior roles at companies including Reliance Industries, Sobha Group, KEH Holdings, Tyco and Pentair, among others.

Mr Liuzza was previously senior director of corporate strategic planning and held roles in a number of management consultancies including Booz & Company and Accenture.

Last week, BIHG held a webinar for its lenders outlining the progress made so far in its transformation and recapitalisation programme, first announced in November last year. It said a consortium of advisers, led by investment bank Houlihan Lokey, had been put in place to oversee its turnaround.

The company said in Sunday's statement that there is a "sizeable market opportunity for major construction projects in Saudi Arabia", with 1 trillion Saudi riyals ($266.67bn) of new contract awards expected by 2025.