Saudi sovereign wealth fund appoints new head of investment strategy
SAUDI Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund which manages around US$925 billion has appointed a new head of its investment strategy and economic insights division, Fahd AlSaif, the organisation said on Tuesday (Jul 23).
The fund, the main vehicle for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plans to wean the economy off its oil dependency, has poured hundreds of billions of US dollars into projects including NEOM, a massive urban and industrial development project nearly the size of Belgium to be built along the Red Sea coast.
It has a sprawling portfolio of investments ranging from date farms to multinational conglomerates.
AlSaif will develop the Public Investment Fund’s overall investment strategy, while maintaining his existing role as the head of the global capital finance division for the fund, the PIF said in a statement.
Reuters previously reported that the fund was weighing an internal reorganisation.
Sources also told Reuters in May that the fund aimed to focus on investments that had a higher chance of success, after scaling back on some of its flagship multi-billion US dollar mega projects due to rising costs.
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A source previously told Reuters that some PIF business lines may be combined and new ones could be created, as part of the reorganisation.
The fund has hoped to attract more foreign investment into some projects, two sources previously told Reuters.
To help diversify funding, it raised US$5 billion through a bond sale in January and US$3.5 billion from a sukuk in October, and plans further debt sales this year.
Aramco transferred an 8 per cent stake to the fund in March, doubling the PIF’s holding in the state-owned company to 16 per cent and giving it access to lucrative dividends. REUTERS
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