A byword for colonial grandeur, and a favourite watering hole of such literary luminaries as Somerset Maugham, Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, Raffles Hotel, home to the Singapore Sling cocktail, has been put up for sale for up to $450 million (£300 million). Apparently, the hotel's owner, Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia, is feeling the pinch.

The Times understands that Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, in which the Prince's Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) has a controlling stake, is seeking buyers for its remaining hotel assets, despite the depressed state of the property market, and it is understood he may even be prepared to sell his stake in the company itself.

Hotel industry sources believe that the Prince, dubbed the Warren Buffett of the Gulf, is looking at a range of disposals in response to the sharp fall in value of some of his biggest investments. KHC has seen a big drop in the value of its investments in companies including Songbird Estates, the majority owner of Canary Wharf, Euro Disney and News Corporation, parent company of The Times. Kingdom Hotel Investments, a small London-listed vehicle in which he has a 55 per cent stake, has lost more than two thirds of its value in the past 12 months.

But it is his 3.9 per cent stake in Citigroup, long seen as a bellwether of his fortunes, that has caused the biggest hole in his wealth, falling from more than $50 a share two years ago to less than $4. In October he sought to stabilise the situation by upping his holding to 5 per cent, but the shares have continued to fall.

According to Fortune, the Prince's wealth has fallen from $21 billion to about $13 billion over the past year, putting him 22nd in the magazine's list of the world's top billionaires, although the Prince himself claimed the figure understated his riches.

But industry insiders insist that the Prince is keen to raise funds by selling parts of his huge hotel empire. While his 45 per cent holding in Four Seasons, the luxury operator, is said to be sacrosanct, there are strong rumours that he may be willing to entertain offers for his 33 per cent stake in Mövenpick Hotels, the Swiss chain. Some say that, for the right price, he would even consider selling The Savoy, in London, which is due to reopen at the end of the year after a £100 million refurbishment.

“He's having a very challenging time,” one analyst, who is intimately acquainted with the Prince's affairs, said. “He's definitely a seller rather than a buyer. He'd sell just about anything at the right price, although finding buyers able to fund such deals is the challenge.”

Fairmont Raffles, created from the merger three years ago of the Fairmont and Raffles groups, is a joint venture with Colony Capital, the US investment firm that once co-owned The Savoy. The group has 91 hotels under the Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel brands.

Since the merger, the group has focused on becoming an operating company by selling most of its assets under sale and manage-back deals, including the Fairmont Banff Springs, in the Rocky Mountains, and the Fairmont Acapulco Princess, in Mexico.

Property industry sources said that the group was now becoming “more flexible” on price in an attempt to shift its remaining assets, including Raffles itself, which is tipped to fetch between $350 million and $450 million. Other assets for sale include the Fairmont Copley Plaza, in Boston, and the Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten, in Hamburg, although the sale of the latter has been hampered by the huge investment required.

KHC could not be reached for comment.

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