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PIF partners with Blackrock to explore investments in Saudi Arabia, Middle East

The two entities will collaborate to attract regional and international investors, and boost foreign direct investment into Saudi Arabia

by Zainab Mansoor

November 14, 2022

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has announced the signing of a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with global investment company BlackRock.

The agreement aims to anchor BlackRock’s Middle East infrastructure strategy and establish a framework to jointly explore infrastructure projects in the Middle East, with a majority of the investment activity focused on Saudi Arabia, PIF said in a statement.

BlackRock will look to build a dedicated infrastructure investment team in Riyadh to cover the Middle East region, to support the initiative.

#PIF signs an MoU with @BlackRock to explore infrastructure investments in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.

The signing is in line with PIF’s mandate to seek new investment opportunities in the MENA region, while enabling private sector participation.https://t.co/wIwN9Ruseb pic.twitter.com/PzoNoR7Qz8

— Public Investment Fund (@PIF_en) November 14, 2022

Target projects span a range of sectors, including energy, power, utilities, water, environment, transportation, telecommunications and social infrastructure.

Furthermore, PIF and BlackRock aim to collaborate to attract regional and international investors to participate in investment projects, boost foreign direct investment (FDI) into Saudi Arabia, add value to the kingdom’s economy and the wider market while facilitating knowledge and skills transfer, the statement added.

The MoU signing is also in line with PIF’s mandate to explore new investment opportunities in the MENA region, while supporting Saudi private sector participation.

The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund has launched several initiatives to bolster local and regional investments. PIF will establish five regional investment companies with the aim of investing in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, and Sudan, it was announced last month.

Read: Saudi’s PIF to establish five companies to pursue investments in Bahrain, Oman, other countries

The announcement followed the launch of the Saudi Egyptian Investment Company in August, which would invest in the North African country.

Read: Saudi wealth fund starts company for Egypt investments

PIF also announced the launch of a new company last month, which would invest in localising the halal production industry in the kingdom.

Read: Saudi Arabia’s PIF launches company to develop halal production industry