The Olayan Group is a Saudi conglomerate

Conglomerate (company)

A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...

 established in 1947 by Sulaiman S. Olayan

Sulaiman S. Olayan

Sulaiman Saleh Olayan was among Saudi Arabia's wealthiest businessmen.-Life and Achievements:Orphaned at age six, Olayan had more humble beginnings than most of his business counterparts from the Kingdom...

 (November 5, 1918 - July 4, 2002) and his son Khaled S. Olayan (July 4, 1945–present). The Olayan Group traces its origins back to the General Contracting Company (GCC), founded to work on the construction of the Trans-Arabian Pipeline alongside the American contracting company Bechtel

Bechtel

Bechtel Corporation is the largest engineering company in the United States, ranking as the 5th-largest privately owned company in the U.S...

. In the 1950s, Olayan created trading

Trader (finance)

A trader is someone in finance who buys and sells financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, commodities and derivatives. A broker who simply fills buy or sell orders is not a trader, as they are merely executing instructions given to them. According to the Wall Street Journal in 2004, a managing...

 and insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

 companies, and began investing in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 markets. Since then, the group has diversified its activities with the establishment of affiliates and partnerships in many industries. Currently, the Group has activities in construction, trading, food processing and restaurants, cleaning products, paper, plastics & fiber, office equipment and other industries. The Group is also the bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola in Saudi Arabia. Among the Group's international partners are AlphaGraphics

AlphaGraphics

AlphaGraphics is a franchised chain of more than 260 independently owned and operated full-service print shops.AlphaGraphics business centers are franchised by AlphaGraphics, Inc., part of the UK-based Pindar Group. AlphaGraphics was founded by entrepreneur Rodger Ford in Tucson, Arizona, in 1969,...

, BP Solar

BP Solar

BP has been involved in solar power since 1973 and its subsidiary, BP Solar, is a solar power company with production facilities in India and the People's Republic of China, employing a workforce of over 2,000 people worldwide. BP Solar is worldwide manufacturer and installer of photovoltaic solar...

, Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse

The Credit Suisse Group AG is a Swiss multinational financial services company headquartered in Zurich, with more than 250 branches in Switzerland and operations in more than 50 countries.-History:...

, Carrefour

Carrefour

Carrefour S.A. is an international hypermarket chain headquartered in Levallois-Perret, France. It is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world...

, HSBC

HSBC

HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...

, JP Morgan, Chase Manhattan, Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

, Bechtel

Bechtel

Bechtel Corporation is the largest engineering company in the United States, ranking as the 5th-largest privately owned company in the U.S...

, Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....

, Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...

, Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. Kimberly-Clark brand name products include "Kleenex" facial tissue, "Kotex" feminine hygiene products, "Cottonelle", Scott and Andrex toilet paper, Wypall utility wipes, "KimWipes"...

, Sama Airlines

Sama Airlines

Sama LelTayaran Company Limited, operating as Sama, was a Saudi low-cost airline based at King Fahad International Airport, Dammam operating scheduled flights within Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. The airline's registered address was in Riyadh....

, Colgate-Palmolive

Colgate-Palmolive

Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...

, CS First Boston, Toshiba

Toshiba

is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...

, Xerox

Xerox

Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...

, Burger King

Burger King

Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...

, Kraft Foods

Kraft Foods

Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...

, Baxter International

Baxter International

Baxter International Inc. , is an American health care company with headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois. The company primarily focuses on products to treat hemophilia, kidney disease, immune disorders and other chronic and acute medical conditions...

, Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation is a California-based oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, the Middle East, North Africa, and South America...

, Cardinal Health

Cardinal Health

Cardinal Health, Inc., is a Fortune 500 health care services company based in Dublin, Ohio. Cardinal Health specializes in health care supply chain services, providing pharmaceuticals and medical products to more than 40,000 locations each day. The company is also a manufacturer of medical and...

, Scania AB

Scania AB

Scania Aktiebolag , commonly referred to as Scania AB or just Scania, is a major Swedish automotive industry manufacturer of commercial vehicles - specifically heavy trucks and buses...

 and much more.

The Olayan Group invests internationally in both public and private equities

Private equity

Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....

, including real estate, as well as in fixed income securities. Its multi-billion-dollar portfolio is concentrated in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 and the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. The Group prides itself on its global perspective in its approach to investing across asset classes and geographies.