Finance PIF set to double European investments with Paris office By Pramod Kumar May 20, 2025, 7:53 AM Armando Babani/Zuma Press Wire via Reuters Connect President Emmanuel Macron and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of PIF with Edi Rama, the Albanian prime minister, during the Future Investment Initiative summit in Tirana, Albania Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is to open its first subsidiary company office in France as it targets doubling its investment in Europe by 2030. The new office underscores the fund’s aim to foster close collaboration with local partners, top companies and institutional investors in Europe, the fund said in a statement. French President Emmanuel Macron and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will attend the opening ceremony, which coincides with the annual “Choose France” event hosted in Paris. This new office will enable PIF to further strengthen its partnerships in the region, the statement said. Last week, Al-Rumayyan said that the fund was expecting its European investment to reach $170 billion by 2030 from $85 billion deployed between 2017 and 2024. The current impact of the existing investments on Europe’s gross domestic product (GDP) stands at $52 billion, he told the FII Priority Summit in Albania and the contribution is expected to reach $105 billion by 2030. The new investments will come despite the European Union’s sustainability rules, which include more than 1,000 compliance metrics, coming into effect in 2028. However, Al-Rumayyan said that PIF’s 5 percent investment in Credit Suisse was wiped out after an overnight change in Swiss regulations, which he termed a “big red flag”. He expected some European leaders to support more business-friendly policies to maintain their current investments. Saudi Arabia buys 40% stake in UK retailer Selfridges PIF acquires 15% stake in London’s Heathrow airport Saudi PIF acquires 9.5% stake in Germany’s Skyborn Renewables In October 2024, PIF acquired a 40 percent stake in British luxury department store Selfridges. Three months later, it acquired a 15 percent stake in FGP TopCo, the holding company of Heathrow Airport Holdings. In December 2022, PIF purchased a 9.5 percent stake in Germany’s Skyborn Renewables. In November 2024 Saudi Arabia’s STC Group, which is 62 percent owned by PIF, received the green light from the Spanish government to increase its stake in telecoms group Telefonica to 9.97 percent. In April 2020 Reuters reported that the sovereign fund accumulated stakes in four major European oil companies: Royal Dutch Shell, France’s Total, Norway’s Equinor and Italy’s Eni. Register now: It’s easy and free AGBI registered members can access even more of our unique analysis and perspective on business and economics in the Middle East. Why sign uP Exclusive weekly email from our editor-in-chief Personalised weekly emails for your preferred industry sectors Read and download our insight packed white papers Access to our mobile app Prioritised access to live events Register for free Already registered? Sign in I’ll register later Register now: It’s easy and free AGBI registered members can access even more of our unique analysis and perspective on business and economics in the Middle East. Why sign uP Exclusive weekly email from our editor-in-chief Personalised weekly emails for your preferred industry sectors Read and download our insight packed white papers Access to our mobile app Prioritised access to live events Register for free Already registered? Sign in I’ll register later
