Global Market: Saudi Wealth Fund to maintain global bets

Synopsis

Saudi Arabia's wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, is committed to global investments. Governor Yasir Al Rumayyan stated the fund's strong financial position. Despite regional conflicts, Gulf investors are proceeding with international deals. The PIF plans to increase its annual deployment and boost domestic and international private sector involvement. Saudi Arabia aims to attract global investment.

The top official at Saudi Arabia's wealth fund said it remains committed to investments around the world despite growing concerns over the mounting economic costs of the war.

"The Saudi macroeconomic and physical position remains strong, stable and resilient," said Yasir Al Rumayyan, governor of the $1 trillion Public Investment Fund. "We measure our returns not in quarters but in decades, and PIF remains committed to its investments around the world."

Al Rumayyan was speaking at the Future Investment Initiative event in Miami, against the backdrop of a regional war that's now in its fourth week. Over the past month, Iran has attacked energy infrastructure across the oil-rich region, raising concerns that the kingdom and other Gulf nations might pull back from international investments.

Tehran's projectiles have hit Saudi Arabia's biggest oil refinery at Ras Tanura, and repeatedly targeted the kingdom's Shaybah oil field, which has the capacity to produce one million barrels of crude a day.

Still, Gulf sovereign investors are pressing ahead with global dealmaking. Savvy Games Group, a unit of the PIF, agreed to buy Moonton from ByteDance this month in a deal valuing the mobile games maker at $6 billion.

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, has also been active in March, while Qatar's wealthfund and a Bahraini aluminum firm both announced large deals in the first week of the war.

In his comments, Al Rumayyan touched upon the PIF's upcoming long-term investment strategy. The wealthfund wants to include the private sector in its work, both domestically and internationally, he said, highlighting sectors including renewables and data centres.

"We want the whole world to come and invest in Saudi," he said.

The PIF has said it plans to boost total annual deployment to $70 billion a year after 2025 and emphasised that its investments in absolute dollar terms will continue to rise abroad even as it focuses at home. The wealthfund is the main driver of Saudi Arabia's multitrillion-dollar diversification plan known as Vision 2030.

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