#UAE's prime minister announces cabinet reshuffle | Reuters

UAE's prime minister announces cabinet reshuffle | Reuters

The United Arab Emirates' prime minister on Saturday appointed Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum as deputy prime minister for financial and economic affairs, the Dubai media office said in a post on X.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum also appointed Mohammed Fadel al-Mazrouei as minister of state for defence affairs.

#SaudiArabia’s fund has a gargantuan appetite for deals #PIF

Saudi Arabia’s fund has a gargantuan appetite for deals

Last month the chief of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund struck the gong of the Hong Kong stock market. In doing so Yasir al-Rumayyan was not just marking the exchange’s opening that day, but also the kingdom’s ambitions in Asia. Having set up an office in Hong Kong in 2022, the Public Investment Fund would move to mainland China and India “hopefully, very soon”, he declared. 

This was music to the Hong Kong authorities’ ears, more accustomed lately to foreign investors departing amid heightened tension between China and the west. It also capped a year of aggressive and contrarian investing by the PIF, whose enormous appetite has reshaped the world of sovereign wealth funds in the space of a few years. 

In 2023, the fund chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spent $31.6bn, the most among its peers, according to data compiled by Global SWF. The Saudi fund dethroned Singapore’s GIC, which had topped the ranking for five consecutive years. 

The PIF increased its spending by a third when everyone else retrenched: overall sovereign wealth funds invested a fifth less at $124.7bn, opting for prudence in a difficult macroeconomic environment. GIC halved its spending despite sitting on more than $140bn in “dry powder” — cash not yet invested. 

The PIF also stood out for the size of its investments: of 49 last year, three were the largest among those led by state funds last year. It spent $4.9bn on US gaming group Scopely in April, bought Standard Chartered’s aircraft leasing business for $3.6bn and took over the steel unit of Saudi chemicals group Sabic for $3.3bn. Other investments have included 8 per cent of Nintendo, 10 per cent of Heathrow airport and 49 per cent of UK hotel chain Rocco Forte. 

The dealmaking is the result of a recent overhaul of the 53-year-old fund by Prince Mohammed. In 2015, he decided the PIF would drive the modernisation and diversification of the Saudi economy, with a view to prepare for peak oil and cater to the needs of the country’s young and restive 36mn-strong population.