Saudi sovereign wealth fund eyes overseas expansions

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is studying plans to open offices across the world as it looks to expand its assets under management to $400 billion by 2020 through overseas and domestic investments. 

Public Investment Fund (PIF) was considering options to open offices in the US – New York and San Francisco – the UK and Japan as it seeks to become a "global investment powerhouse,” said PIF managing director Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

Currently, PIF has more than $250 billion assets under management.

Speaking to a gathering of Saudi and US business leaders in New York, Al-Rumayyan said the PIF had grown from around 50 people in 2015 to 240 today and he sought to double this number by the end of the year.

"We don’t want to invest just in the current things. We want to enable new industries," said Al-Rumayyan, adding that the Kingdom was increasing its focus on robotics and artificial intelligence.

He said that financial returns are a priority for the PIF, and all the big investments it has made so far are in companies with "outstanding growth rates."

He also acknowledged the challenge in making strategic decisions.

"Sometimes we have long-term views and sometimes if we have volatility on short term it will have impact on our performance," Al-Rumayyan said.

Among PIF’s current investments are: a $3.5 billion for a stake in ride-hailing company Uber and $45 billion investment plans for a technology fund with Japan's Softbank.

The PIF also aims to raise funds through privatizing state assets, including the planned initial public offering (IPO) of Saudi Aramco.