Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has done another important deal to forward the Royal Family’s diversification away from oil, signing a memorandum of understanding with the US investment management company Black Rock, considered the largest in the sector internationally and manager of more than $10 trillion in assets.
The deal is focused on the development of Saudi infrastructure, and aims to attract major international investment. Saudi Arabia has been working for some time to attract foreign investors to the Kingdom, to grow the national economy outside of the energy industry. The agreement signed with BlackRock is essentially non-binding, but should serve as a foundation for a working relationship between the investment behemoth and Saudi Royal Family.
The SPA issued a statement saying that the new alliance “intends to form a team specialised in infrastructure investments in Riyadh”. The deal covers sectors including transport, utilities, water, environment, communications and social infrastructure. In addition to attracting foreign investment, it also aims to grow local investment by welcoming the Saudi private sector.
