• Share sale was said to have been planned for as soon as 2018
  • Kingdom to privatize hundreds of assets as part of reform

The Olayan family, which runs one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest conglomerates, is putting plans to sell shares in some of its local assets on hold amid slow economic growth in the kingdom, people familiar with the matter said.

Olayan Financing Co., which controls the billionaire family’s investments in the Middle East, decided not to proceed with an initial public offering of a holding company of about 20 local units, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. Plans for the sale of the holding company, which may worth as much as $5 billion, could be revived in the future, they said.

The decision to put the IPO plans on hold predates the beginning of an anti-corruption purge by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman that began on Saturday evening, the people said. The crackdown by a newly formed anti-corruption committee resulted in the arrest of princes, billionaires, ministers and former…