Public Investment Fund elevates more Saudis to senior posts

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is shaking up its portfolio companies to put a local stamp on their leadership ranks.

The sovereign wealth fund has begun replacing a number of foreign CEOs with Saudi nationals at more than 100 startups founded over the past decade, the Financial Times reports. 

Among them is electronics manufacter Alat, which named the PIF’s Saudi chief of industrials and mining, Muhammad Aldawood, as acting CEO in place of the departing Amit Midha.

Neo Space Group is substituting Haithem AlFaraj for Martijn Blanken of the Netherlands.

The changes come after the fund conducted a review of all its companies, including how they will reallocate spending in the coming years, the newspaper said, citing an adviser to the Saudi government.

They reflect a wider restructuring of Saudi business after a decade of heavy spending by the PIF, which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has used to reduce the kingdom’s reliance on oil revenues. 

The changes also point to tensions caused by the government’s Vision 2030 economic reform plans, which aim to create more jobs for citizens but often employ highly paid foreign executives.

Saudi-based companies now account for about 80% of the fund’s portfolio, up from roughly 70% in 2020.