Former Riyad Bank CEO to join Saudi PIF

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which is being transformed into a US$2 trillion investment major, hired Rashed Sharif as the head of domestic investments, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Mr Sharif, who was previously the chief executive of Riyad Bank’s investment-banking unit, will be responsible for managing the Public Investment Fund’s $111 billion portfolio of Saudi assets, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

He will report to the fund’s managing director, Yasir Al Rumayyan, they said.

PIF, as the fund is known, plans to become the world’s largest when the government gives it ownership of Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) along with the proceeds from the oil producer’s initial public offering, expected to be the biggest listing ever. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to remodel the kingdom into an investment powerhouse to reduce its dependence on oil.

The fund has already started to make large international deals, including a commitment to put $20bn into a US infrastructure fund managed by Blackstone, up to $45bn in a technology investment fund managed by SoftBank and a $3.5bn stake in Uber Technologies.

PIF’s domestic portfolio includes stakes in companies such as Saudi Basic Industries, the world’s second-biggest chemicals manufacturer, and National Commercial Bank, the kingdom’s largest lender. In addition, the fund owns about 60 private companies, Mr Al Rumayyan said in May. The fund’s assets totaled 587bn Saudi riyals ($157bn) at the end of June 2016, according to the prospectus for the government’s $9bn Islamic bond sale published in April.

A spokesman for PIF declined to comment, while a spokesman for Riyad Capital said Adel Al Ateeq will replace Mr Sharif as chief executive of Riyad Capital, without commenting on whether he has joined PIF.

By 2020, PIF plans to use half the assets not tied up in Saudi Aramco to invest abroad, up from 5 per cent currently. Mr Al Rumayyan, who was tapped by Prince Mohammed in 2015, has been beefing up PIF’s team and has more than doubled the number of employees since. The fund appointed Kevin O’Donnell as the head of global private equity last year, and Cyrille Urfer as the head of global public markets.

Even as the fund pursues international deals, it will continue investing domestically. PIF set up a defence company, Saudi Arabian Military Industries, in May to help reduce the kingdom’s reliance on foreign purchases of military equipment and create a domestic manufacturing industry. It is also the main investor in a planned 334-square-kilometre sports and entertainment city that will be built south of Riyadh, the government said in April. The plans will include a safari area and a Six Flags Entertainment theme park.