Arab News
Arab News, Tue, Mar 04, 2025 | Ramadan 4, 1446
Saudi Public Investment Fund partners with Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Saudi Arabia:
The Public Investment Fund and Goldman
Sachs Asset Management signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding in
Riyadh on Monday. The agreement designates the PIF as an anchor investor for new
private and public funds in Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries.
An anchor investor is an institutional investor
that backs a business or asset before it goes public on the stock market, to add
value and help establish its name and reputation.
The aim of the new partnership is to help position
the Kingdom as an investment hub and grow the Saudi asset management sector by
leveraging the institutional strength of the PIF and the expertise of Goldman
Sachs, the organizations said. A goal is to attract equity capital from
international investors, a significant portion of which will be earmarked for
investments within the Kingdom.
Yazeed Al-Humied, deputy governor and head
of Middle East and North Africa investments at PIF, said asset management forms
part of the fund’s broader efforts to diversify the Saudi economy and strengthen
local capital markets.
He described the agreement with Goldman Sachs as
“another element in PIF’s strategy of attracting global capital and expertise
from a wide range of investors to the region, while facilitating
knowledge-transfer and capacity-building within Saudi Arabia.”
Their private-credit strategy will focus on senior
and junior loans (representing higher or lower priority debts) for companies in
the GCC region, officials said. Their public equity strategies will target
investments in publicly listed companies associated with the Kingdom.
Goldman Sachs recently expanded its presence in
Saudi Arabia, opening a new office in Riyadh in October. Marc Nachmann, global
head of asset and wealth management, said the company is proud to collaborate
with the PIF to develop investment strategies.
“Drawing on our decades of experience investing in
public and private markets, our aim is to help clients access the dynamic
opportunities created by Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC’s rapid economic
transformation,” he added.
“We are excited to see this partnership expand and
to continue building our presence in Saudi Arabia.”
The PIF said it aims to support Saudi Arabia’s
Vision 2030 plan for national development and diversification through a wide
range of investments and partnerships. Since 2017, it has established 103
companies to create investment opportunities in the Saudi economy.