Finance PIF to back Brookfield Middle East fund By Chris Hamill-Stewart October 30, 2024, 7:14 PM Alamy via Reuters Brookfield Asset Management's fund intends to make substantial investments in market leading companies across the Gulf New $2bn fund Buyouts will be focus Gulf deals beckon Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) plans to back Brookfield Asset Management’s new $2 billion Middle East fund, helping the Canadian investment firm pursue deals in the Gulf. The investment platform, known as Brookfield Middle East Partners, will target $2 billion from a range of investors and intends to focus on buyouts and structured solutions, among other investment opportunities in the region. Half of the fund will be invested in Saudi Arabia, Bloomberg reported. The two signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday stating that PIF will act as a strategic anchor investor for Brookfield for investments in businesses based in Saudi Arabia and the wider region. Yazeed A Al-Humied, deputy governor and head of Mena investments at PIF, said: “PIF’s collaboration with Brookfield demonstrates our continued efforts to foster international partnerships that enhance local markets. “This MoU represents a step toward achieving PIF’s vision of attracting global capital and expertise to the region, while facilitating knowledge transfer and capacity-building within Saudi Arabia.” PIF companies push ahead with Mecca expansion plans The huge ambitions of PIF come at vast expense A look inside the Future Investment Initiative PIF is Saudi Arabia’s flagship sovereign wealth fund. The fund has assets under management of roughly $930 billion. Speaking on Tuesday at the Future Investment Initiative forum, PIF’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan said: “People used to come to us and ask for money. We are now seeing a shift from people wanting to take our money to people wanting to co-invest.” PIF has created 95 new companies in Saudi Arabia and created more than 1.1 million direct and indirect jobs around the world. The fund announced on Tuesday that it would start investing more of its fund within Saudi Arabia. Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfield Asset Management, said: “Saudi Arabia is core to the region’s economic transformation, and we look forward to contributing to its growth by investing at scale in market-leading companies that will benefit from our deep operating capabilities.” Last year, Brookfield said it would open an office in Riyadh, and it is already one of the Middle East’s most active and largest institutional investors with about $12 billion invested in recent years, mostly in the UAE. The company’s new Middle East vehicle aims to invest in private equity deals and real estate. Other anchor investors and its first close are expected to be announced in the coming months. In June, Brookfield announced it was leading a consortium of investors in a nearly $2 billion investment in the UAE’s Gems Education.
