Wafic Saïd

Wafic Rida Saïd ( _ar. وفيق رضا سعيد) (born 21 December 1939, in Damascus) is a Syrian-Saudi Arabian businessman residing in Monaco and Paris.

Saïd became a billionaire through his connections with the Saudi royal family, acting as an advisor and consultant on many major infrastructure, industrial and defence related projects including the multi-billion dollar Al Yamamah arms contract. He is Chairman of Said Holdings Limited, an investment holding company, incorporated in Bermuda, with investments in Europe, North America and the Far East. It has diverse portfolios, which include fixed income, quoted equities, hedge funds, private equity and real assets including real estate.

In 1982 he founded The Karim Rida Said Foundation, a UK registered charity that aims to bring positive and lasting change to the lives of children and young people in the Middle East and promote better understanding between Western and Arab/Islamic cultures.

In 1996 Wafic Said donated £23 million to establish Saïd Business School, the business school at the University of Oxford and has since established a Strategic Development Fund for the School with a capital value of £25 million. Saïd also provided substantial funding for the establishment of the Wafic Saïd Molecular Cardiology & Gene Therapy Research Laboratory at the Texas Heart Institute, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston, Texas. In 2003 he became the first recipient of Sheldon Medal which had been newly established by Oxford University to honour exceptional supporters of the University. He is also a member of Oxford University Court of Benefactors, Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford and Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

He commissioned architect Sir William Withfield to design on the site of an old house a neo-Palladian country house, Tusmore Park, near Bicester in Oxfordshire, England, which won the Georgian Group 2004 Architectural Award for the best new building in the classical tradition. [ [http://www.georgiangroup.org.uk/docs/awards/winners.php?id=4:35:0:5n The Georgian Group ] ] He also has houses in Monaco, London, Paris and Marbella.

He is Ambassador and Head of the delegation of St Vincent and the Grenadines to UNESCO since 1996 (hence his entitlement to the style 'His Excellency' chiefly used in the context of his diplomatic role) [ [http://www.unesco.org/confgen/participants/lists/saint_vincent_et_grenadines.html UNESCO webpage re Saïd's Ambassadorial appointment] ] .

In the "Sunday Times Rich List 2007" ranking of the wealthiest people in the UK he was placed 65th with an estimated fortune of £1,000 million. [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/richlist "Sunday Times Rich List 2007" online edition] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.waficsaid.com Wafic Said website]
* [http://www.meib.org/articles/0302_sd.htm Middle East Intelligence Bulletin on Wafic Saïd]
* [http://www.krsf.org The Karim Rida Said Foundation]
* [http://property.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14029-1340871,00.html Tusmore House in "The Times"]