Business& finance Club Magazine - Riyadh :  Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal is the richest Arab businessman for 2010, and for the seventh year, the Dubai-based magazine, Arabian Business reported on Sunday.

According to Arabian Business, the prince’s wealth has jumped more than $2 billion in 2010 from his $18 billion in 2009.

Talal, aged 55, has restructured Kingdom Holding Co. , and invested $500 million in General Motors Co. initial public offering (IPO) in November to further stimulate investment growth amid the troubled global financial climate.

On Saturday, his 95 percent owned, the Riyadh-based Kingdom Holding, announced that it will pay the annual dividends in 2011 since listing in Saudi stock exchange more than three years ago.

Kingdom Holding’s latest market values in addition to the appreciation value of his other key assets have made him reap a figure reaching around $20.4 billion for 2010.

Saudi businesses take the lion share and have six businessemen out of the top 10 list of Arabian Business’ richest Arabs for 2010. Also, the top five places are all Saudis.

According to the magazine, the top 10 figures have their wealth increased by 16 percent to reach $100 billion.

In January, al-Waleed transferred 180 million of his shares in Citigroup Inc. to Kingdom Holding to enable the Saudi company to pay dividends and improve earnings.

There are 32 Saudi entries on the 2010 list, and of the 24 new entries, 20 of them came from Saudi, the Gulf’s biggest economy.