Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund bought stakes worth as much as $1.3 billion in four local construction companies as part of efforts to scale-up capacity in the sector and improve supply chains.
The $600-billion Public Investment Fund acquired minority stakes in Nesma & Partners Contracting Co., El Seif Engineering Contracting Co., AlBawani Holding Co. and Almabani General Contractors Co. by subscribing to new shares during capital increases, according to a statement. The PIF had hired Rothschild and GIB Capital as advisers and was looking to take stakes of about 30% in each company, Bloomberg reported last year.
The investment “will support local capacity expansion across the sector and stimulate private sector participation and investment to meet current and future demand,” said Yazeed Al-Humied, deputy governor and head of MENA Investments at PIF.
The construction industry was plagued by crisis due to mis-management and the government withholding payments following the 2014 crash in oil prices. Government officials say the payment situation has since improved as it looks to embark on a massive infrastructure spending spree.
No comments:
Post a Comment