A Saudi prince is suing a business partnership over $5 million in his purchase of a stake in a lush Bahamian island, the latest of the kingdom’s wealthy royals to turn to Delaware’s Chancery Court to resolve a dispute.
(Bloomberg) — A Saudi prince is suing a business partnership over $5 million in his purchase of a stake in a lush Bahamian island, the latest of the kingdom’s wealthy royals to turn to Delaware’s Chancery Court to resolve a dispute.
Prince Salman Bin Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud claims that officials of Cave Cay LP, controlled by investment fund Yntegra Group, are violating a side agreement under which he and Yntegra officials are each to pay the $5 million to the partnership. The prince alleges the partnership is demanding the sum of him but not of Yntegra. In his lawsuit, which is set to be unsealed, he asks the court to make Cave Cay honor the pact.
Representatives of Yntegra didn’t immediately return a call and an email seeking comment on the suit.
‘Barefoot Luxury’
The partnership is selling stakes in the 220-acre island, Big Cave Cay, as part of a project to build a “high-end residential club community, luxury resort and marina” offering “unparalleled barefoot luxury” on the property, which also includes Little Cave Cay and more than 3,000 acres of land connecting the two islands, according to the suit.
The property is something of a “James Bond island,” complete with its own airstrip, as described in a 2015 story in the Guardian newspaper that reported its value as $90 million.
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The Saudi royal family has a combined net worth of at least $105 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The prince is the grandson of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdulaziz.
Delaware Court
The prince is the son of Prince Sultan Bin Salman Al Saud, who headed the Saudi space agency for three years before he left in 2021, after becoming the first Muslim astronaut in 1985 when he joined the crew of the US Space Shuttle Discovery on a mission to deliver a satellite to earth’s orbit.
In his suit, the prince claims Cave Cay “misrepresented Yntegra’s ability to raise outside capital.” He is asking the court to bar the partnership from declaring him to be in default over the $5 million “discriminatory capital call.”
Delaware is the corporate home to more than 60% of Fortune 500 companies. Judges in its Chancery Court are business law experts who hear cases without juries. Among the royal Saudis with cases there are two who are at odds over their Beverly Hills mansions and are battling over who will replace stained carpets and wilted landscaping at the once-luxe shared compound so it can be sold.
The Big Cave Cay agreement requires that all disputes over the deal be heard in the state.
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The case is HRH Prince Salman Bin Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud v. Cave Cay LP, 2023-0068, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington).
–With assistance from Devon Pendleton.
(Adds further details of lawsuit in last section. An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the plaintiff and included an incorrect photo.)
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