Dubai: The Saudi operations of the global fund manager BlackRock is to launch a multi-asset class investment platform in the Kingdom. Initial funding of up to $5 billion will be put up by the wealth fund PIF.
The planned BlackRock Riyadh Investment Management (BRIM) platform will ‘encompass investment strategies across a range of asset classes’. These are to be managed by a Riyadh-based portfolio management team and supported by BlackRock’s global asset management platform.
The new BlackRock initiative will seek to support foreign institutional investment into Saudi Arabia and ‘enhance’ the Saudi asset management industry. It will also look to ‘broaden local capital markets’ and help with investor diversification across asset classes.
"This new landmark agreement represents a step forward in PIF’s work in making the Saudi investment and asset management market more internationally diverse and more dynamic,” said Yazeed A. Al-Humied, Deputy Governor and Head of MENA Investments at PIF.
"Partnering with leading global international companies and asset managers like BlackRock is part of PIF’s growth strategy."
One of BlackRock’s most important contributions in the countries in which we operate is to bring our knowledge and understanding of capital markets to help drive future economic development.
Since 2017, PIF has locally created 94 new companies and created over 644,000 direct and indirect jobs.
As for BlackRock, it had assets under management of $9 trillion plus as of Q3-2023.
The new Saudi focused initiative will be 'fully integrated with BlackRock’s investment capabilities and operating platform'. "BlackRock’s Financial Markets Advisory group – which delivers a range of capital market and risk and analytics advice to official institutions and financial institutions globally – aims to support adjacent initiatives to deepen capital markets and enhance market structure," the statement added.
According to Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of lackRock, “The continued growth of the Kingdom’s capital markets and diversification of its financial sector will contribute to future prosperity for its citizens, the competitiveness of its companies and the resilience of its economy."
