Kingdom Holding, the investment vehicle of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has received shareholder approval to sell bonds worth up to 3.75 billion riyal ($1 billion), the company said in a bourse statement on Wednesday.

The firm, 95-percent owned by Prince Alwaleed, has never issued public debt before. Shareholders authorised the board of directors to take all necessary steps to issue the bonds, but no details on timeframe or the structure of the debt to be issued were provided in the statement.

Kingdom has minority stakes in some of the world's top companies and is one of the largest shareholders in US bank Citigroup.

Earlier this week, Saudi Electricity Co attracted significant demand for its first international debt markets foray, raising $1.75 billion in 5- and 10-year Islamic bonds. - Reuters