Stockpickr: Trade Like Prince Al-Waleed

Value investor Prince Al-Waleed has been called by many the "Warren Buffett of the Middle East" ever since his prescient and humongous bets in the mid-1990s on two floundering companies, Citigroup(C) and AOL.

His investments occurred at all-time low points for both companies and have paid off tenfold, giving Al-Waleed a net worth estimated between $10 billion and $20 billion.

Al-Waleed began his career in real estate and construction, often brokering deals with businessmen who wanted to do transactions in Saudi Arabia. From his background in real estate comes an interest in hotels. In January 2006, he purchased Fairmont Hotel. Interestingly, Al-Waleed made his offer shortly after activist Carl Icahn agitated for change at the hotel chain. Icahn had been accumulating Fairmont and wanted the company to put itself up for sale. The prince obliged.

More recently, he has made news by offering to buy Four Seasons Hotels(FS), in conjunction with Bill Gates' private equity firm Cascade Investment, for $3.8 billion in November 2006. The revenue and cash flows of Four Seasons don't justify the price at 40 times earnings, but Al-Waleed is probably making the bet that:

• Four Seasons' continued worldwide expansion will create opportunities as the dollar weakens; and
• synergies between Four Seasons and his acquisition of Fairmont can cut costs.

Other funds and analysts were making the bet on Four Seasons, including hedge fund Hayground Cove. Hayground is run by former Bear Stearns retail analyst Jason Ader. Recent positions of Ader's include Isle of Capri Casinos(ISLE), where he's filed a 13D (suggesting he might have discussions with management), and troubled retail chains such as Rite Aid(RAD) and RadioShack(RSH).

Take a look at Hayground Cove's top positions.