Who is the executive who commands US$ 650 billion in a Saudi fund – 06/20/2023 – Market

A few months before Newcastle United returned to Europe’s premier football competition, the Champions League, after two decades away, Yasir Al-Rumayyan took the team to his home in Riyadh for an exhilarating meeting in December.

It had been just over a year since the club’s takeover by Saudi Arabia’s FIP (Public Investment Fund) and the FIP boss, 53, and president of Newcastle gathered the players together for a speech before getting excited about a simulated round of golf .

As the team took a turn in its fortunes, Rumayyan’s other major sporting venture, the new LIV golf tournament, was struggling to attract sponsors and with the US PGA in court. The foray into golf, a personal obsession of Rumayyan, did not look promising.

This month’s announcement that the LIV and PGA were joining forces, with Rumayyan as chairman, took many observers by surprise.

While the plan still faces hurdles, including scrutiny from US lawmakers, it has boosted Rumayyan’s reputation as one of the world’s most influential sovereign wealth fund directors.

A confidant of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Rumayyan is tasked with overseeing investments and renovations that are dear to the royals. Some attribute his rising profile to acting as a support to the ruler, others to his managerial skills and an occasional stroke of luck.

The 2021 decision to set up LIV “was a crazy idea, it was a long shot,” recalled a former Saudi colleague who knows his career. “But if God is smiling on you…”

Born in the Saudi province of Al-Qassim, Rumayyan graduated from a local university before entering the banking sector.

He worked his way up to Saudi Hollandi Bank before a stint with the Capital Markets Authority. In 2015, he was heading financial services provider Saudi Fransi Capital when then Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed drafted him into the FIP.

“I didn’t know him. I thought it was going to be an interview, but it was like, ‘This is what I want you to do,'” Rumayyan said in a 2020 interview with Bloomberg.

As governor of the PIF, Rumayyan manages US$650 billion (R$3.1 trillion) in assets, including his US$45 billion (R$215 billion) stake in Vision Foundation, owned by Japanese technology group Softbank, US$20 billion (R$95.5 billion) in a Blackstone infrastructure fund and a stake in Uber that gave him a seat on the group’s board, before stepping down to focus on other commitments.

He is also president of Saudi Aramco, a position he assumed when the state-owned oil company was preparing for an initial public offering whose proceeds would go to the fund, which also received 8% of the company.

One foreign executive said Rumayyan’s schedule was so packed that when he tried to arrange a meeting with the head of the FIP, he was given a 15-minute window, more than three months away.

Navigating domestic issues can be your biggest challenge, as well as your riskiest. Rumayyan’s role as governor of the investment fund, which is chaired by Mohammed, puts him at the forefront of the kingdom’s effort to diversify its economy away from oil.

Ministers and men of Rumayyan’s position often have a short shelf life in Saudi Arabia. The prince replaces them at will and is intolerant of mistakes or people who get in his way.

The FIP-led reforms, involving a range of major projects and investments in nascent industries from electric vehicles to gaming and vapes, are seen as crucial for Mohammed to gain support in the country as he prepares to succeed his father King Salman, he said. a western diplomat.

Rumayyan drew both plaudits and criticism for the FIP’s domestic activities, which, by creating or reinforcing domestic companies to boost lagging sectors such as real estate, alienated private sector actors.

He outlived many peers. His secret? “God has mercy on a man who knows his own limits,” said the former Saudi colleague, quoting an Arabic proverb.

Some people familiar with the FIP say that Rumayyan delegates the day-to-day affairs of the fund and its growing empire. He is also close to outside advisers such as Wall Street trader Michael Klein.

“It’s typical Saudi leadership,” said a former senior fund official. “You gather people around you and it’s top-down leadership. You receive the order and try to execute it, and when you don’t know how, you bring in consultants.”

Rumayyan is open to anyone offering advice, according to the former colleague. “All the world’s leading bankers are scrambling to advise him,” he said. “He listens, and he’s a hard worker.”

A “bon vivant”, he hosted dinners at his home on the eve of the FIP’s Future Investment Initiative, the “Davos in the Desert” summit that seeks to project the new Saudi Arabia to the global elite.

People who know him say Rumayyan is affable, as well as friendly and helpful when approached by journalists and businessmen. With his coiffed curly hair, Roman nose and tailored suits, he cuts a distinguished figure when he appears at St. James’ Park to support Newcastle.

But he was never considered a business or networking genius, say several people who know him from his banking days.

The fact that he managed to impress and gain the trust of Prince Mohammed has left some observers perplexed.

“He’s a nice guy [mas] I was surprised he got the job,” said a banker who has known him for a long time.

Others see his rise as a measure of flexibility and a readiness to please the prince. He has an intimate relationship with Mohammed, said an adviser, laughing and joking with him. But he remains respectful.

“To go somewhere in that part of the world, you have to at least agree with the way things are going,” said the former FIP official.

Rumayyan’s adviser said he was attuned to the scale of the prince’s transformation project for the kingdom, challenging bankers’ skepticism and encouraging more ambitious proposals to satisfy his boss.

Supporters say Rumayyan deserves credit for his achievements.

“Yasir has a track record of doing better than anyone expected,” said an executive at a company that works with the FIP. “In the beginning, it wasn’t uncommon for people to say ‘really?’ when they first met him. But he’s got some talent, he’s resilient and he doesn’t take himself too seriously.”

Collaborated with Simeon Kerr, in Dubai. Translated by Luiz Roberto Gonçalves