#SaudiArabia’s Wealth Fund Parts Ways With Three Top Executives - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia’s Wealth Fund Parts Ways With Three Top Executives - Bloomberg:

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has parted ways with at least three senior investment executives in recent months, in what may be a blow to the sovereign wealth fund’s ambitions to expand into a global giant.

Chief Strategy Officer Dennis Johnson, who had been in his role since 2018, has left, as well as the head of risk, Martin Botha, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Head of investment risk, Hassan Chehime, who had been with the PIF for about a year, also departed, the people said, asking not to be identified because the moves haven’t been publicly disclosed. 

The $320 billion sovereign wealth fund, run by Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has been building out its bench of global and local managers as it steps up deal-making in a bid to become the world’s biggest. The departures risk stymieing those efforts as Saudi Arabia is counting on its global investments to help wean the kingdom away from its dependence on oil.

Johnson is the fund’s second head of strategy to leave in two years. Eric Ebermeyer left in 2018, just weeks after joining. Botha was one of the fund’s first senior hires in 2016.