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Public Investment Fund and Macquarie Asset Management have agreed to explore potential investments in areas including energy transition and digital infrastructure in the kingdom.
The talks aim to bolster the asset management industry in Saudi Arabia. Macquarie is also considering establishing a regional office in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is leading the charge to attract more foreign investment into the economy and develop the local financial services industry.
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PIF’s agreement with Macquarie aims to attract “leading international infrastructure asset managers that can bring global capital and expertise to accelerate the delivery of Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure pipeline,” Yazeed Al-Humied, the fund’s deputy governor and head of Middle East and North Africa investments said in a statement.
The fund announced deals worth up to $12 billion with several top US asset managers in May during US President Donald Trump’s visit to Riyadh. Among those was an agreement to potentially invest up to $5 billion in the kingdom’s financial markets with Franklin Templeton, and a similar deal with Neuberger Berman to explore investing up to $6 billion in the country and launch a Riyadh-based multi-asset investment management platform.
Developing the local asset management industry has become a key focus for PIF’s efforts to develop the local economy and attract more high-paying financial services jobs to the kingdom. It also helps draw firms to the King Abdullah Financial District, Riyadh’s banking hub that is home to Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and other global financial institutions.
Notable
- BlackRock was one of the first big global asset managers to hunt for growth opportunities in Saudi Arabia, with CEO Larry Fink leading a charge to court the kingdom’s billions, according to this Bloomberg story.