Saudi Arabias Diriyah Co. Set To Attract New Wave Of Investors With $500m Ticket Sizes

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Diriyah Co. is attracting a new wave of global investors with potential ticket sizes of $500 million or more, according to the company’s investment head. 

Speaking to Arab News during the World Investment Conference in Riyadh, Chief Investment Officer Jonathan Robinson revealed ongoing discussions with international investors spanning Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East, signaling an unprecedented level of global interest in the company’s projects. 

“How many investors? We have dozens of live conversations, dozens, so we’re not talking one or two and we’re not talking one or two in any particular jurisdiction. We have conversations going across all these jurisdictions,” Robinson revealed.  

“What’s the size? I think look, you know, we’re probably talking about investments, certainly in the $500 million and up. So it’s a good size, with international investors across multiple continents to come in, in a way, as a co-investor that I don’t think we’ve really seen in terms of breadth and depth or scale so far in the giga-project. So this is an exciting time. It is very real. And I think you will see those kinds of announcements coming out of Diriyah in the coming months,” he added. 

“We have live conversations today, with investors in Asia, with investors in Europe, with investors in the Americas, as well as the many conversations that are ongoing across the region and including, of course, in Saudi Arabia,” Robinson said. 

“I think in the coming months, you will see us make some pretty exciting announcements about partnerships with that global investor space. And that’s going to be groundbreaking in some respects. Not just for Diriyah, but potentially even for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where you’re going to see a real level of participation joining us as partners and joint ventures in funds, through sole developer, co-developer models, where you’re going to see us partnering with some pretty new names,” Robinson said. 

He elaborated on the breadth of investor engagement, highlighting that these partnerships will involve new and established players in Saudi Arabia. 

“Some of them will be new names to the Kingdom. Some of them will be existing investors in the Kingdom but looking to step up that game. We’re moving our execution model now to one that’s really engaging with the private sector on this global scale, and those are very live conversations today,” Robinson explained. 

“I think you will see coming out of Diriyah in the coming months, certainly into the first quarter of next year, we’ll be in a position to make some pretty big announcements. And those will include investors coming from all three continents,” he added. 

Robinson described the initiative as a groundbreaking development for Saudi Arabia’s giga-projects. “I think it’s groundbreaking, first and foremost, that we’re bringing foreign investors in to co-invest in some of our giga-projects. That is groundbreaking. It’s been done at some level through operating companies and what have you, but as investors to co-invest in the development, ownership, operation, that will be groundbreaking,” he said.