He is the Founder and CEO of the global holding company, Safanad,[1] which he established in 2009 with the backing of the Bahamdan Group, of which he is the Vice Chairman. The Group was established in the 1940s by his grandfather Salem Bahamdan in Makkah.[8][9] It was incorporated in the 1950s in Riyadh by his father Abdullah Bahamdan the former MD and Chairman of the National Commercial Bank (NCB) of Saudi Arabia, which was at the time the Arab world's largest bank.[8][9] Since foundation, the Group has made more than 250 investments in a range of markets and sectors across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the United States.[8][1][9]
In March 2014, Safanad and Formation Capital sold a portfolio of 43 senior housing facilities and 37 skilled nursing facilities to NorthStar Realty for $1.05 billion.[10][11]
In June 2014, Safanad and Ron Packard, education company Stride, Inc. founder and former CEO, announced the launch of a new education company, Pansophic Learning.[12] Upon establishment, the company immediately acquired from K12 Inc. several assets including licenses to curriculum and technology, an international brick and mortar private school, a higher education platform business, and the K12 business in the Middle East. The company has grown to serve more than 50,000 students across 165 schools and early learning academies, primarily in the US, Europe, and Africa. In October 2022, Safanad announced further expansion of its education platform with an initial planned investment of US$200 million in the MENA region’s education sector and a commitment to invest significantly beyond this to acquire, manage and develop multiple charter, online, early learning, and K-12 private schools independently and in partnership with regional governments.[13][14]
Beyond investing in education, Bahamdan is also an education philanthropist. In December 2022, Boston University, his alma mater, announced that he had endowed a chair in early childhood wellbeing which the University said marked a significant milestone in its work in this field.[15]
Safanad is also the owner of HC-One, an elderly care home provider working in the UK.[16] A BBC Panorama investigation highlighted how private-equity investors such as Kamal Bahamdan negatively impact certain sectors of the economy, by diverting company money to finance expensive debts introduced by the investor. HC-One, however, clarified these allegations stating, ‘In the past five years, our owners have enabled us to invest £145 million in upgrading our homes, with a further £115 million committed by 2022 to 2023. This far exceeds all the cumulative dividends and management fees they have received over the same period – a total of £32 million...’ We have always been UK tax resident, pay full tax in the UK, and file our accounts at Companies House... We do not use our structure to artificially reduce our earnings.[16]
Previously, Bahamdan also co-founded Al-Khabeer Merchant Finance Corporation (est.2007), and was Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Washington DC–based international investment firm BV Group (est. 1995).[1][2]
Riding since the age of seven, he took further riding lessons in the United Kingdom every summer,[8] and then started competing in local equestrian events, often against compatriots Ramzy Al-Duhami and Khaled Al-Eid.[3] Whilst studying then working in finance in the United States he competed on the East Coast circuit, where he came to the attention of Ziyad Abduljawad, now managing director of Saudi Equestrian.[3] In 2004, he moved his riding base to Valkenswaard, Netherlands, making his international competition debut in the same year, but competing only on a part-time basis.[3]
