Goldman Sachs places big bet on Saudi Arabia

Goldman Sachs Group is expanding its footprint in Saudi Arabia by doubling its investment banking staff and plans to deploy its own money in the kingdom for the first time, the bank's chief executive for MENA region, Wassim Younan, told Bloomberg.

The US bank will appoint Ammar Al-Khudairy, who previously oversaw Morgan Stanley’s Saudi operations, as non-executive chairman to help identify business opportunities and make principal investments.

“With the exception of China, I have not witnessed in my 34-year career in the business a sovereign undergoing such massive economic and social transformation,” Younan said.

“We remain keen and continue to prospect for opportunities in the kingdom to deploy and invest the firm’s own capital alongside our clients,” he added.

Other global and regional investment banks such as Deutsche Bank AG, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, EFG Hermes and First Abu Dhabi Bank are also strengthening their operations in the Kingdom to take advantage of economic opportunities arising from the government's privatization plan and investments in non-oil related sectors. 

“We anticipate a meaningful pickup in M&A and capital markets activity going forward,” he said, adding the bank has doubled its Riyadh-based staffing in the last two years.

“We constantly look at our staffing requirements in relation to the commercial activity. Given what’s happening in the kingdom, that should give you a fair idea of which direction our staffing levels could be heading in future,” he revealed.