The Governor of the Public Investment Fund, Yasser Al-Rumayyan, confirmed that the fund does not compete with the private sector, pointing to the fund’s plans to provide 1.8 million jobs over the next five years, referring to the fund’s investments abroad and the airline that it intends to launch soon.
The beginning of the investment fund’s journey
Al-Rumayyan referred to the Crown Prince’s decision in 2015 to restructure the Board of Directors of the Public Investment Fund under his leadership, adding that Prince Mohammed bin Salman assigned him to nominate an executive director of the fund, and nominated him a number of leading figures in the investment sector, but then he was surprised by his choice by the Crown Prince for the position of governor.
He added, during an interview with “Socrates Podcast”, that the Crown Prince met with the fund’s board of directors after restructuring it for 18 hours over two days, and the meeting discussed the fund’s work and future plans, and it was agreed to establish six investment portfolios for the fund.
These portfolios were divided into four for the Saudi market, namely investments in Saudi companies, development and development of promising sectors, investments in real estate and infrastructure projects, and investments in major Saudi projects, in addition to the last two portfolios of global investments.
Fund Renaissance
Al-Rumayyan revealed that the Public Investment Fund has expanded at the structural and investment level since 2015. At the level of the fund’s structure, the number of employees has increased from 40 to nearly two thousand, and the Fund has a huge headquarters in the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, after it was located in one of the buildings Ministry of Finance.
On the investment level, Al-Rumayyan praised the support of the Crown Prince, who contributed to the expansion of global investments, as they constituted only 5% of the fund’s investments in 2015. Therefore, two balanced investment portfolios were established to invest in several sectors such as stocks, infrastructure and private funds, as well as investing in Japan’s SoftBank, and Uber’s ride-sharing company, which is the fund’s first strategic investment and put it on the global investment map.
Al-Rumayyan revealed that the size of the assets of the Public Investment Fund was $150 billion in 2015, and now it has exceeded $600 billion, while the returns were not more than 3% in 2015, and now it has exceeded 8%, equivalent to about $50 billion annually.
He pointed out that one of the reasons for the increase in the value of the assets and returns of the investment fund is the growth of the Saudi markets, in addition to some stable international investments in private equity and public markets, and investment in Lucid Air, in which the fund invested more than two billion dollars (65% of the company’s value). The company’s value has grown to $60 billion.
He added that the fund is working to raise the value of its assets to more than one trillion dollars by 2025, and then to 3 trillion dollars.
We do not compete with the private sector
On what is reported about the fund’s competition with the private sector, Al-Rumayyan stressed that the fund is not in competition with the private sector, but rather works to develop and develop various sectors and rescue troubled companies, and urged investors to enter into promising fields such as the fund’s investment in the cinema sector as soon as it is allowed in the Kingdom. .
In this regard, he referred to Al-Seef Security Services Company, which benefited from the experience of Aramco’s security guards, and thanks to training and qualification, efficient services and rewarding salaries, the company’s security guards became the most sought after by government clients and the private sector.
Al-Rumayyan stressed that the fund’s investment in the local market works to cover new and promising sectors, provided that they have investment returns and economic addition.
He added that the fund will spend about 200 billion riyals annually in the local economy, and its local investments have contributed to providing 400,000 jobs, and the fund aims to provide 1.8 million jobs over the next five years.
Investing during the pandemic
Al-Rumayyan said that the members of the fund’s board of directors used to see during the Corona pandemic that the fund’s investments would be directed to the Saudi market, but the governor and the chairman of the board (the Crown Prince) had a different opinion, which is that this is a historical opportunity that must be invested, so the matter was raised and the directive was issued to go to the markets Globalization and taking advantage of this economic opportunity, as the fund invested about $35 billion and achieved returns of 40% during the first months of the crisis.
The new airlines
Al-Rumayyan talked about the airline that the fund intends to launch, saying that its first flights will start in 2024, and it will have one hub, which is Riyadh, and from there to other local and international destinations.
He added that a large number of leaders among the best in the world have been employed for this startup, and the CEO of the company will arrive in Riyadh within a month.
Investing in leisure and sports
Al-Rumayyan considered the entertainment and sports sectors among the strategic sectors of the fund’s investments, adding that electronic games are one of the most growing sectors in the global economy, in addition to that, in line with the goals of Vision 2030.
Al-Rumayyan added that the fund rejected offers to invest in Italian, French and English teams, and specifically chose Newcastle to invest in it. Being the only club in England that alone represents an entire city of one million people, all of whom are fans of the team, and represents a major impetus for the fund’s investment in the sports sector in Europe and the Kingdom, where the fund aspires to raise the value of Newcastle from 300 million to 3.5 billion dollars (the value of Chelsea club currently).
What do you learn from the crown prince?
Al-Rumayyan also talked about what he learned from the Crown Prince through his work under his presidency during the past seven years, indicating that the Crown Prince is distinguished by comprehensive knowledge, attention to detail, listening well to different opinions and never interrupting the speaker, as well as rationality and logicality, prioritizing, and how to exploit capabilities in the right way. optimum.