PIF in talks to buy strategic stake in top Saudi construction firms
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is in talks with four of the kingdom's leading construction firms - Nesma Holding, El Seif Group, Almabani General Contractors and Albawani - to acquire a minority stake in them or their subsidiaries, said a report.
The Saudi wealth fund will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in these firms and is looking at acquiring a strategic stake in these companies, reported Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.
The PIF has hired Rothschild and GIB Capital as advisers and is looking to snap up around 30% in each company, stated the report, citing the sources.
The move comes in line with PIF's five-year strategy - unveiled last year by its Chairman HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Council of Economic Affairs and Development- that aims to increase the size of its assets to SR4 trillion ($1.06 trillion), in addition to creating 1.8 million jobs directly and indirectly, by the end of 2025.
In February, HRH Prince Mohammed had announced the transfer of 4% of Aramco shares to the PIF.
The transfer, he stated, was part of the kingdom’s long-term strategy to support the restructuring of its economy, in line with Vision 2030 and its five-year strategy.
The same month, the Saudi wealth fund snapped up a majority stake in Depa, one of the world’s leading providers of interior solutions listed on Nasdaq Dubai, through a cash investment of AED150 million ($41 million) in the Dubai company in return for allotment of 750 million new Class A shares.
HRH the Crown Prince pointed out that the new -year strategy represented a major pillar in achieving the aspirations of the country towards economic growth, upgrading the quality of life, and achieving the concept of comprehensive and sustainable development in various traditional and modern sectors.
The fund, he stated, will work in the coming years on many goals, the most important of which is pumping at least SR150 billion ($40 billion) annually into the local economy, in addition to contributing through its subsidiaries to the non-oil GDP of SR1.2 trillion cumulatively, said a SPA report.
According to the PIF Program 2021-2025, the fund will pump local investments into new projects by focusing on 13 vital and strategic sectors, which will contribute to raising the level of local content to 60% in the fund and its subsidiaries, and enhance efforts to diversify sources of revenue, the report added.
Source: http://www.tradearabia.com/news/CONS_394848.html
