The BlackRock logo is pictured outside their headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., May 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
DUBAI, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and BlackRock have signed an agreement to jointly explore infrastructure projects in the Middle East, focused on Saudi Arabia.
The Public Investment Fund (PIF), which manages more than $600 billion in assets, said their non-binding memorandum of understanding will serve as the anchor for BlackRock’s Middle East Infrastructure strategy. It added that the world’s biggest fund manager plans to build a dedicated infrastructure investment team in Riyadh.
Industries to be targeted include energy, utilities, transport and telecoms.
“PIF and BlackRock plan to work together to attract regional and international investors to participate in investment projects, boost foreign direct investment (FDI) into Saudi Arabia, add value to the Saudi Arabian economy and the wider market while facilitating knowledge and skills transfer.”
PIF, which aims to grow its assets under management to more than $1 trillion by 2025, is the engine at the centre of Vision 2030, a programme introduced by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to wean the kingdom’s economy off oil revenues and lure foreign investment to establish new sectors and spur job creation.
In October last year, Saudi Arabia launched a national infrastructure fund to support up to 200 billion riyals ($53 billion) in projects over the next decade. It was advised by BlackRock, which set up an office in Riyadh in 2019 to capitalise on the kingdom’s reform agenda.
It was not immediately clear whether the MoU was related to that National Infrastructure Fund, which is part of the National Development Fund.
BlackRock, which manages nearly $8 trillion in assets, last year led a consortium to buy a $15.5 billion stake in Saudi Aramco’s gas pipelines company. It had taken a stake in Abu Dhabi energy company ADNOC’s pipeline assets a couple of years earlier.
Reporting by Yousef Saba Editing by Edwina Gibbs and David Goodman
Source.
Convenience retail is becoming an increasingly data-driven business, with operators balancing tight margins, shifting consumer…
As enterprises have moved more workloads into virtualised environments, the hypervisor has become a critical…
Rally Saudi Arabia will not form part of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship due…
Outdoor footwear is increasingly expected to do more than perform on a trail. Consumers move…
The non-alcoholic beverage market is beginning to move beyond the simple promise of drinking less.…
For clean-energy technology companies, sustainability reporting is increasingly moving beyond a compliance exercise. Investors, customers…