Factbox: Saudi Arabia's major inward and outward investments (2024)

DUBAI (Reuters) - The release of a U.S. intelligence report implicating Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has highlighted the political risk for companies and investors of doing business with the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia, which rejected the report’s findings, is keen to attract foreign investors to help end its dependence on oil. The kingdom has also been scouting for deals abroad to transform itself into a global economic powerhouse.

Here are some of the key investments and deals announced since 2017 when Prince Mohammed launched the Future Investment Initiative to attract global investors:

2021

** February 2021: Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) signed an agreement to set up a joint venture with U.S. firm Lockheed Martin to enhance the kingdom’s defence and manufacturing capabilities.

** February 2021: Warner Music Group said it invested in Rotana Music, the Middle East’s largest record label owned by Saudi Arabia’s billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

2020

** Q4 2020: The Public Investment Fund (PIF), the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, invested $12.8 billion in U.S. equities as of the fourth quarter of last year, including Uber Technologies.

** December 2020: Saudi Arabia was the 14th largest holder of U.S. Treasury securities, holding $136.4 billion worth. That is down 24% from December 2019, according to data from U.S. Treasury International Capital System.

** November 2020: the PIF invested around $1.3 billion to buy a 2.04% stake in India’s Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, a unit of Reliance Industries.

** July 2020: Air Products, ACWA Power and NEOM signed an agreement for a $5 billion green hydrogen-based ammonia production facility for export to global markets.

** June 2020: PIF bought a 2.32% stake worth $1.5 billion in Reliance’s other company Jio Platforms, India’s leading digital services company.

2019

** October 2019: Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) signed a $300 million deal with ForDeal, a China-based online shopping platform, to establish a regional distribution hub and localise operations in Saudi Arabia.

** October 2019: SAGIA signed a $200 million agreement with London-based Shiloh Minerals to develop its local production capacity, as well as invest in potential upstream mining opportunities in Saudi Arabia.

** October 2019: Saudi utilities developer ACWA Power signed a memorandum of understanding with Air Products and Chemicals Inc to develop a $11.45 billion Air Product Qudra project.

** October 2019: Saudi Aramco signs a $200 million deal with Dassault Systems to collaborate across areas including data analytics, project management and smart cities.

** October 2019: Saudi Aramco signs a $230 agreement with Baker Hughes around co-investment and co-development for artificial intelligence and digital transformation.

** June 2019: Advanced Global Investment Company, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Advanced Petrochemical Company, and SK Gas, a liquefied petroleum gas distributor under South Korea’s major conglomerate SK Group, signed two memoranda of understanding, worth $1.84 billion combined, to build propylene and polypropylene plants in Saudi Arabia.

** April 2019: PIF invests over $1 billion in U.S. electric carmaker Lucid Motors.

** February 2019: Aramco agreed to form a joint venture with Chinese defence conglomerate Norinco to develop a refining and petrochemical complex in the northeastern Chinese city of Panjin, saying the project was worth more than $10 billion.

** January 2019: The Saudi Export Development Authority and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund reached an $840 million financing deal for the construction of the Trans-Saudi Arabia plant in Jazan for basic and transformational industries, one of China’s flagship Belt and Road Initiatives.

** January 2019: Chemical companies Alrafiyah and U.S. firm Eastman Chemical agreed to set up a hydrocarbon resins factory worth nearly $500 million.

2018

** August 2018: Aramco created a gasification and power joint venture with Air Products, an American company that will own a 55% share. The joint venture will purchase $8 billion worth of assets from Aramco.

** May 2018: PIF partners with others to acquire a 57.8% stake in AccorInvest, a French hotel real estate firm, for $5.33 billion. The size of PIF’s stake was not disclosed.

** April 2018: PIF announced an agreement with U.S. amusem*nt park operator Six Flags to open a theme park in Qiddiya entertainment city by 2022. No financial details were disclosed.

2017

** October 2017: At the inaugural Future Investment Initiative, PIF announces plans to invest $1 billion in British billionaire Richard Branson’s space firm Virgin Galactic and sister companies The Spaceship Company and Virgin Orbit.

Branson in 2018 halted talks on the Saudi investment after the murder of Khashoggi.

** May 2017: GE signed $15 billion in business deals with Saudi Arabia, in a range of industries including oil and gas, mining, and healthcare.

** May 2017: U.S. private equity firm Blackstone and the PIF said they planned to create a $40 billion vehicle to invest in infrastructure projects, mainly in the U.S.

** May 2017: PIF pledged $45 billion to a technology-focused investment fund with Japan’s SoftBank Group, creating the $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund.

** May 2017: National Oilwell Varco announced a $6 billion joint venture with Saudi Aramco to manufacture drilling rigs and equipment.