SAMA said to be forming committee on Saudi Oger's debt restructuring

Saudi Arabia is setting up a committee for restructuring the debt of the financially-troubled construction group Saudi Oger, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the Kingdom's central bank has recently informed lenders that a committee will be set up to handle claims related to Saudi Oger.

The committee, comprising representatives from the labor ministry and justice ministry, will deal with debt owed to staff, service debt and payments owed to the government as a priority, the sources said.

The company, owned by the family of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, began to flounder as the government was forced to cut spending amid lower oil prices and payments were delayed.

Saudi Oger was working on only three projects; King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), King Salman’s palace in Tangier and another project in Mina region, east of Makkah.