Disputes within family firms in the Gulf have resulted in assets worth $13 billion being frozen, the Anadolu Agency reported member of the Saudi Securities and Exchange Commission Omar Radi saying.
About one third of family firms are located in Saudi Arabia and, according to Radi, these firms represent 70 per cent of the financial and economic weight of Gulf states.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Club of Family Firms in Dubai, which was organised by the Saudi Law Centre, Radi said that the wealth of members of the Gulf Cooperation Council has reached approximately $1.819 trillion according to the latest statistics of 2015.
Meanwhile, Hamid Al-Muhairi, UAE deputy economic minister and undersecretary for commercial affairs, said that the size of investments of family firms in the Gulf has reached to 70 per cent and the number of workers involved in their business is about 80 per cent of the workforce.
Adding that these firms play a significant role in the retention of the economic development in the Gulf States.
Previously, the Network of the Family Firms in the Gulf States had revealed that 80 per cent of these firms are facing challenges regarding the transmission of ownership. Some $1 trillion of family-business assets are due to be handed over to the next generation within five to ten years.
According to the network, a number of these firms across the Gulf States have already started planning gradual transmission of ownership, at the same time, they maintain their family traditions.