Business & Money | Wednesday 24 October, 2018 5:00 am |

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), said during the opening session of the Future Investment Initiative that kicked off in Riyadh on Tuesday that around 10% of the Kingdom’s sovereign fund assets are international assets while 90% were local, adding that the Fund aims to increase international assets to 50% by 2030.

“In 2030, we want it to have 50% international assets and 50% local assets,” Rumayyan said.

“We aim to diversify the economy and localize industries. As you know Saudi Arabia is an oil-exporting country and what we want to achieve is develop local services and products in the Kingdom such as touristic and entertainment services,” he said.

Rumayyan also said the sovereign wealth fund has invested and built up a portfolio of 50 or 60 companies via SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund and will bring most of those firms to the Kingdom.

The $93-billion Vision Fund has investments in companies including ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc and shared-office space firm WeWork.

The state fund has agreed to invest $45 billion in the giant tech fund led by SoftBank and the pair are also working with other parties on a number of large-scale, multi-billion dollar projects relating to the solar industry.

According to Rumayyan, electric cars’ share is increasing in the market and the Fund desires to localize this industry in Saudi Arabia.

“The Public Investment Fund has four main goals: consider future funds, as we have the authority to consider investments whether locally or internationally, increase investment revenues, manage risks and develop the gross domestic product,” he added.

Rumayyan reiterated at an investment conference in Riyadh that the Vision Fund was planning to open an office in Saudi Arabia.