Home Industry Finance Saudi fund PIF purchases $578.6m land plot in northern Riyadh PIF bought the Al Ghadir plot at an auction of the property of late businessman Saleh Abdulaziz al-Rajhi by Reuters October 7, 2018 Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has purchased a huge plot of land in northern Riyadh for SAR2.17bn ($578.64m) in what the auction operator and Saudi media described as the largest real estate transaction in the kingdom. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) purchased the Al Ghadir plot at an auction of the property of late businessman Saleh Abdulaziz al-Rajhi, the Etqan real estate company, which handled the process, said. The undeveloped plot is located at a prime spot in northern Riyadh, opposite the capital’s glitzy financial centre the King Abdullah Financial District (KFAD). Etqan said the land, with an area of 434,400 square metres, was sold for SAR5,000 ($1,333.26) per square metre. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Bloomberg in an interview published on Friday that the PIF will surpass its target of increasing its assets to $600bn by 2020, part of a plan to reduce the economy’s dependence on oil. PIF is also among the investors backing the $500m business and industrial zone NEOM, which will extend into Jordan and Egypt. Also read: Saudi’s crown prince to double SoftBank investment, hopes for first NEOM town in 2019 0 Comments