Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has agreed to sell 16.87% of his investment firm Kingdom Holding Co (4280.SE) to Saudi Arabia's strong national wealth fund, the company announced on Sunday.

Kingdom Holding announced in a stock exchange filing that the Public Investment Fund (PIF) will purchase 625 million shares for 9.09 riyals ($2.42) per share for a total of 5.68 billion riyals ($1.51 billion).

The agreement's share price was where the stock closed on Thursday, its lowest level in a year. In early trade on Sunday, it rose more than 6% to roughly 9.7 riyals.

According to the corporation, the transaction will take place on Saudi Arabia's stock exchange, Tadawul, on Sunday. Prince Alwaleed, one of the kingdom's most prominent corporate heavyweights, will maintain a 78.13% interest.

The PIF, which oversees over $600 billion in assets, is essential to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ambitious plan to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy away from oil.

Saudi royals selling valuables as MBS makes power play

Last month, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Saudi princes have sold $600 million worth of real estate, yachts, and artwork since Mohammad bin Salman has attempted to further consolidate power by cutting off their access to money.

MBS, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, has dried up the Saudi royals' sources of money under the pretense that they have "extraordinary spending habits" they have to maintain, but this could very much be an extension of the 2017 Ritz-Carlton power play.

Some of those currently liquidating assets, including  Alwaleed bin Talal, were detained in Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel in 2017, in what was called by critics as a shakedown, whereby the royals wishing to leave had to sign over large sums of their belongings to the Crown Prince.