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Saudi FII deals headlined by Google, Brookfield, Airbus

Oct 31, 2024, 11:46am EDT
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Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of PIF, and Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of PIF, and Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google. Courtesy of FII
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The News

Organizers of Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) expected more than $28 billion worth of deals over the course of the three-day conference, which concluded Thursday. The final tally is about a third of that, and while most of the investments are domestic, some deals were signed with companies and organizations in the US, Vietnam, Japan, and China.

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Know More

Here’s a selection of notable deals.

Finance

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  • Brookfield Asset Management plans to raise at least $2 billion for a new Middle East-focused private equity fund, with Saudi Arabia’s government pension Hassana Investment Co. and the Toronto-based Brookfield each contributing up to $500 million. At least half of the fund will invest in Saudi companies, targeting industrials, consumer, and business services, technology, and healthcare. The Public Investment Fund is also considering investing.
  • Japan’s SBI Holdings and Saudi-based BIM Ventures announced the establishment of BIM Capital, which aims to attract more than $200 million in foreign direct investment into the kingdom, and manage a portfolio worth more than $2 billion.
  • Separately, SBI Holdings and Saudi Arabia’s National Technology Group are investing in an exchange traded fund (ETF) tracking the Tadawul that listed today on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The ETF aims to ultimately reach $750 million in assets under management.
  • The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corp. and the Saudi Ministry of Investment agreed to partner on a program to provide the kingdom’s private sector with advisory and financial assistance, training, and other capacity building efforts.
  • New York merchant bank Z Capital Group plans to invest up to $2 billion in Saudi Arabia, with half in private lending and the rest in private equity, credit, and infrastructure. It’s also setting up its regional headquarters in Riyadh.
  • PIF and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority agreed to work toward anchoring a fund with a target size of $1 billion that would invest in Hong Kong companies looking to expand to Saudi Arabia operating in the manufacturing, renewables, fintech, and healthcare industries.

Aviation

  • Riyadh Air — Saudi Arabia’s premium airline set to launch in the second half of 2025 — signed a multibillion-dollar deal with Airbus for 60 A321neo narrowbody jets.

Technology

  • PIF and Google Cloud will build an AI hub near Dammam in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia’s oil hub. The two will work together to advance the Arabic-language capabilities of Gemini, Google’s generative AI model. The proposed AI hub could add $71 billion to Saudi’s GDP over eight years, according to a study commissioned by Google Cloud.
  • Hassana signed an agreement with Azerbaijan’s sovereign wealth fund, and Saudi venture capital firm Beta Lab launched a $300 million fund in partnership with the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park and Telkom Indonesia.

Energy

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Logistics

  • Ewpartners, an investment firm backed by PIF, said it will invest $50 million in Leshines, the supply chain unit of Lenovo Group. The deal will support Leshines’ expansion into Saudi Arabia, and the company is exploring entering into the KSA-Sino Logistics Zone, which is under development at Riyadh’s new King Salman International Airport.
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