BlackRock to invest $5 billion in PIF to open Saudi Arabian investment company | Wilnesh News

Asset manager BlackRock is to launch an investment platform in Riyadh with the help of a $5 billion anchor investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Tuesday’s announcement comes after BlackRock’s Saudi unit signed a memorandum of understanding with PIF aimed at spurring capital market growth in the oil-rich Gulf state.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with $10 trillion in assets under management, will “launch cross-asset class investment strategies for the Saudi Arabian market, including public and private markets, by Riyadh-based Investment Team Management,” the company’s joint press release said.

The new platform will be called BlackRock Riyadh Investment Management (BRIM).

According to the press release, BRIM aims to help foreign institutions invest in Saudi Arabia, develop the Saudi Arabian asset management industry, expand the local capital market and investor diversification, and support the development of Saudi Arabian asset management talents.

This program, along with many of the PIF’s other programs (which oversee $925 billion in assets), contributes to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, a multi-trillion dollar project to achieve Saudi Arabia’s Modernize the economy and diversify from oil. Central to this effort is bringing major international institutions, investment and foreign talent to Saudi Arabia.

BRIM was established to promote “Further development of the Saudi capital markets ecosystem and enabling the continued growth of the Saudi-based international investment management sector,” the press statement reads.

BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink said in a statement that as Vision 2030 is realized, Saudi Arabia “has become an increasingly attractive destination for international investment.”

The asset management giant has been working with Saudi Arabia for years and made clear in 2018 that despite the major controversy surrounding the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, it would not quit.

In another move to strengthen ties with Saudi Arabia, BlackRock gave Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser a board seat in July 2023. Saudi Aramco is the world’s largest oil company.

At the time, BlackRock said the move reflected the company’s focus on the Middle East as part of its long-term strategy.

—CNBC’s Li Yun contributed to this report.