Oman's Al Anwar Holdings said on Saturday it had won approval to set up a 200 million riyal ($53.33 million) financial services firm in Saudi Arabia together with eight regional partners.

The new company, which will provide services including brokerage and corporate finance, will see Anwar, Bahraini investment bank Addax and Kuwait Investment Company each hold a 25 per cent stake in the new firm, the company's chief executive officer Krishnakumar Gupta, said.

The remainder will be held by six other regional companies, Gupta said, without elaborating.

'We got the Saudi approval last week for a financial services company with a capital of 200 million riyals,' Gupta explained.

The company expects to start operations in the third quarter of 2008, he said.-Reuters