The multinational construction conglomerate Saudi Binladin Group, owned by the family of the infamous al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has paid €45 million ($60 million) to acquire half of the marble company Marmi Carrara, The Art Newspaper reports. The Italian firm owns 50 percent of the Società Apuane Marmo, which is entitled to mine 400,000 tons of marble in the legendary Carrara quarries every year.

The quarries have been exploited since Ancient Rome, and used for sculptures and monuments including the Pantheon, Trajan’s Column, and Michelangelo’s David. For centuries, they were owned by prominent Italian families. It is the first time foreigners enter the business­—a development not unanimously welcomed by Italian politicians.

The acquisition is likely to have been prompted by the Gulf’s ever-growing appetite for fine marbles.