NEOM replaces CEO amid megaproject’s delays, rising costs

Saudi Arabia’s banner NEOM project is getting a management shake-up.

The Public Investment Fund-owned company running the kingdom’s $500 billion development along the Red Sea coast announced the departure on Tuesday of CEO Nadhmi al-Nasr.

The move follows months of reports on rising costs and delays for the megaproject, which aims to build a 110-mile linear city called The Line for 9 million people and has been a centerpiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 blueprint for modernizing the Saudi economy.

Aiman al-Mudaifer, the head of PIF’s Local Real Estate Division since 2018, was named as NEOM’s acting CEO. “As NEOM enters a new phase of delivery, this new leadership will ensure operational continuity, agility and efficiency to match the overall vision and objectives of the project,” the company said in a statement.

In his role at PIF, Al-Mudaifer oversees all local real estate investments and infrastructure projects, and he is a board member of several prominent companies in the kingdom.

While changing seats at the top, NEOM also announced on Tuesday that it has hired three international consultants for city planning, design and engineering roles connected to The Line. The firms are Austria’s Delugan Missl Associate Architects, San Francisco-based Gensler and Mott MacDonald in the U.K.

Saudi Arabia’s annual ‘Davos’ conference gets started in Riyadh

Saudi Arabia is in full swing this week in its effort to wow Wall Street and the rest of the financial world as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hits the midpoint of his Vision 2030 plan to transform the economy.

Some 7,000 movers and shakers are pouring into Riyadh for the Future Investment Initiative conference that takes place annually at the opulent Ritz Carlton hotel and in the vast halls of the adjacent King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center.

Getting a jump on the confab in Riyadh, the developers of Saudi Arabia’s trillion-dollar-plus Neom project invited a select group of financiers, celebrities and influencers to a kickoff event over the weekend at Sindalah Island, five kilometers off the kingdom’s west coast, Bloomberg reports.

The Red Sea resort island, where an ecosystem is rising of super-luxury hotels, swank night clubs and an 86-berth yacht marina, hosted a beach party headlined by Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys. She sang to an audience that included actor Will Smith, tennis champ Rafael Nidal and former NFL quarterback Tom Brady.

Back in the capital, FII opens on Tuesday with a bevy of investment bankers, hedge fund founders and corporate titans who have become regulars at the conference that was originally billed as “Davos in the Desert,” to highlight its aspirations for global influence.

Among the speakers slated for the main stage are Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock; Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreesen Horowitz, Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi; Ken Griffin, Founder and CEO of Citadel; Dame Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange; Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google; and David Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group.
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The three-day event will be introduced by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is Governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and Chairman of Aramco. Richard Attias, CEO of the FII Institute, said at a press conference that he expects some $28 billion in business deals to be announced during the course of the conference.

Neom faces 20% budget cut amid continued drop in Saudi oil prices

Neom, the flagship mega-project of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 economic roadmap, is facing budget cuts.

The development along the Red Sea coast is expected to be allocated 20% less than its targeted budget for this year, Bloomberg reports.

The revision comes as the kingdom reconciles lower-than-expected oil prices and foreign investment that has it on track for at least three more years of projected national budget deficits.

Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan has previously said the eight-year-old Vision 2030 plan may face delays because the kingdom needs to be careful about “overheating” the economy – which may cause inflation to rise. 

“If you don’t allow your economy to catch up with your projects, basically what will happen is you’ll import a lot more,” Al-Jadaan said at the Qatar Economic Forum in May.

As a result, Saudi Arabia could lack the factories and other capacity needed to support its plans. “So giving it more time is actually wise,” he said.

Modifying the vision is not necessarily a bad sign, analysts told Bloomberg, echoing the Finance Minister’s comments. The “rightsizing” of projects is a sign the kingdom is maturing, according to Goldman Sachs’ MENA Economist, Farouk Soussa. 

“What they’re doing in terms of adjusting these projects gives us a lot of comfort,” Soussa said. “They’re basically saying they’re not going to go for broke or bet the house on any one particular thing. If it’s possible, they’ll do it. If not, they won’t. They’re being quite sensible.”

Riyadh among top 15 fastest-growing cities over next 10 years

Even as the most audacious blueprints for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s Vision 2030 are revised, Riyadh is still poised to be one of the fastest-growing cities in the world over the next decade as the kingdom’s mega-projects take root, according to British property consultancy Savills. 

Saudi Arabia’s capital city landed in the top 15 fastest-growing cities by 2033 — the only urban center outside of Asia on the list — according to the Savills Growth Hubs Index.

Indian and Chinese cities take five spots each in the top 15, followed by Vietnam with two, and the Philippines, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia with one each. The ranking is a compilation of forecasts of population, wealth and economic expansion. 

Riyadh is at the center of the kingdom’s diversification push away from oil as the city serves as regional headquarters to an influx of international companies.

Major new developments are also underway to improve livability. The mixed-use property development New Murabba and a new metro system are under construction as the city prepares to host the World Expo in 2030 and vies for the World Cup in 2034. 

The Middle East’s third largest city is expected to record a 26% uptick in population, taking Riyadh from 5.9 million to 9.2 million residents in 10 years. The new-arrivals boom is expected to result in continued government spending on massive infrastructure projects as well as improved amenities and services to accommodate the growing population, according to Savills.

“Saudi Arabia boasts a population of around 36 million people and, astonishingly, 67% are under the age of 35,” Richard Paul, Head of Professional Services & Consultancy Middle East, said in the report.

“The employment potential and ultimate spending power of this segment of the population over the next decade are enormous.”  

Saudi Arabia on track to become world’s biggest construction market

Saudi Arabia is on track to become the world’s largest construction market as the kingdom pours billions of dollars into new urban hubs and tourism destinations underpinning its economic diversification strategy, according to Knight Frank.

Since Vision 2030 was laid out eight years ago, the country has announced projects worth more than $1.25 trillion spanning residential properties in the capital Riyadh to far-flung mega-projects like Neom, the real estate consultancy group found.

The total construction output value is forecast to reach $181.5 billion by the end of 2028, up almost 30% from 2023 levels, the London-based firm said in a report published Monday.

The construction boom is down to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s mandate to transition the oil-dependent economy to become a magnet for skilled workers and foreign tourists.

“We are currently witnessing a historical transformation unfolding in Saudi Arabia with construction projects standing out in their design scale and value,” said Mohamed Nabil, regional partner and head of project and development services for the Middle East and North Africa at Knight Frank.

Family offices mull diversification to guide their Gulf investments

Hundreds of investors gathered in Abu Dhabi on Thursday to discuss the future of family offices – a growing group that is steering an expanding pot of wealth to the region at a pivotal moment of economic transformation.

“Our mandate is to stay away from oil,” Abdulrahman Al Suwaidi, Managing Director of the UAE’s AS Investments, quipped on a panel at the Abu Dhabi Family Office Summit on Saadiyat Island.

Instead, the investors safeguarding the Gulf’s intergenerational wealth are looking to the diversification strategies in the region, such as Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 or the UAE’s “Future Economy” initiatives, to guide their investment decisions.

Al Suwaidi, who was previously the director of investments for the ruling family of Dubai’s family office, the Al Maktoums’ Dubai Holding, said his current fund is deploying capital in food security – they own a stake in the biggest halal poultry farm in the U.K. – as well as in green energy. 

In a part of the world overrun by fund managers looking to drum up capital, Ali Raza, CIO of Saudi Arabia Holding Co., said a key missing piece is how to effectively navigate the market.

“This goes for any region in the world but this is really the gap here,” Raza said.

Echoing Al Suwaidi, he implored would-be fundraisers to look to the economic transformation strategies in the countries where they are deal-hunting to identify opportunity.

Raza’s fund is deploying capital into electric vehicles and future mobility as well as semiconductors and data centers, he said. “Think very literally about Vision 2030,” he advised. 

Family offices in the Middle East have grown rapidly in recent years, with total assets under management forecasted to hit a half trillion dollars in 2025, according to an analysis by Forbes.

Some 45% of family offices in the region are managing a portfolio worth $251 million to $500 million, with another 32% presiding over $2.1 billion to $5 billion.

Although slightly ahead of their Asian counterparts, the concept of family offices remains relatively new in the region, with less than half operating for more than a decade, Forbes found.

By comparison, roughly two-thirds of U.S. and U.K. family offices have been around for more than 10 years. 

The Daily Circuit: Qatar makes a play for chips + PIF faces tough choices on Vision 2030

👋 Hello from the Middle East!

Today in the Daily Circuit, we’re looking at revisions to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, two AI product announcements out of Abu Dhabi, the PIF consolidating its big entertainment development players and Dubai-based Property Finder securing an exit for OG investor BECO Capital. But first, Qatar elbows into the chips race as the Qatar Economic Forum gets underway.  

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani opened the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha this morning with the message that the country is continuing its economic diversification efforts driven by its sovereign wealth fund, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). QIA, which has over a half trillion dollars in assets under management, has made the U.S. its main market but it is eyeing emerging markets like Central Asia and Africa, he said, and the fund is accelerating investments in technology. 

His remarks at the Bloomberg-hosted forum follow an announcement from the QIA last night that it plans to be an anchor investor in Ardian Semiconductor, a fund set up by French private equity firm Ardian to invest in the semiconductor industry across Europe. 

No deal terms were disclosed but the move comes as Gulf sovereigns are jockeying for key pieces of what is powering the AI revolution, including chips, data centers and intellectual property. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund launched the $100 billion AI investment firm Alat in February and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala followed up a month later as a founding partner of MGX, a deep tech-focused fund aiming for $100 billion in assets under management. 

The three-day conference will feature Jenny Johnson, President & CEO of Franklin Templeton (who addressed the Abu Dhabi Global Healthcare Week yesterday), and Ken Griffin, Founder and CEO of Citadel. Also joining panels in Qatar’s capital will be Darren Woods, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil; Noor Sweid, Founder and Managing Partner of UAE-based Global Ventures; Rick Gerson, Co-Founder and Chair of Alpha Wave; and Gerry Cardinale, Founder, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Redbird Capital Partners.

Public Investment Fund: The PIF is consolidating Saudi Entertainment Ventures (also known as SEVEN) under Qiddiya Investment Co. to create a single recreation and entertainment entity in the kingdom. SEVEN will remain part of the PIF and continue to deliver on its mandate to develop 21 entertainment projects in 14 cities across Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the PIF has invited banks to pitch for roles on the planned initial public offering of the kingdom’s largest medical procurement firm, Nupco, Bloomberg reports. Rothschild & Co. is advising on the potential IPO. Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia’s Al Balad Development Co., which is backed by the PIF, is working to revitalize Jeddah’s historic district and transform it into a heritage and tourism destination. 

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority: A consortium led by private equity giant Blackstone, along with ADIA and GIC of Singapore, submitted a non-binding bid late last week to acquire a controlling stake in Haldiram Snacks Food, the combined packaged snacks and foods business owned by the Agarwal family of Delhi and Nagpur, The Economic Times reports.

Kuwait Investment Authority and Oman Investment Authority: The two sovereign wealth funds signed a preliminary agreement for joint investments and to enter into discussions about future opportunities in their respective countries. The plan also calls for assessing investments in existing funds affiliated with the OIA in asset classes such as energy, infrastructure, communications, transportation and logistics, as well as the possibility of forming a joint fund. 

Mubadala: Drama continues for the Mubadala-backed grocery delivery company Getir as the Istanbul-based startup is in a dispute with shareholders over key management positions after it shut international operations, Bloomberg reports. Meanwhile, Indonesia will ask Mubadala Energy, a unit of the sovereign wealth fund, to speed up gas development in Indonesia’s South Andaman Block after the firm announced a second major discovery there this week, Dwi Soetjipto, chairman of upstream regulator SKK Migas said on Tuesday.

🗣 Circuit Chatter

🛢️ Positive Outlook: Oman’s economy is expected to gain momentum amid higher oil prices and accelerated reforms under Oman Vision 2040, but the sultanate faces potential risks from regional geopolitical tensions and sustained high global interest rates, the International Monetary Fund said after a staff mission to the country this week. 

🚢 Peaceful Routes: The U.S. has reportedly given an informal nod for Saudi Arabia to continue to try to revive a peace deal with the Houthis. The Yemen-based rebels’ attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea since November have led to a dramatic drop in maritime trade through the route and surging insurance costs.

💰 Big Payday: May paychecks for Emirates Group employees will be a bit fatter as the Dubai airline plans to disperse a 20-week bonus to staff after it posted a record profit for its financial year ending March 31, The National reports.

🩺 Future of Medicine: Innovation in healthcare, from AI and personalized care to anti-ageing treatments, is top of the agenda at the first Abu Dhabi Global Healthcare Week now underway at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center.

🤖 Robot Rescue: UAE company XCath will host a live telerobotic surgery on a model in South Korea on Wednesday during Abu Dhabi Global Healthcare Week to demonstrate how its technology can be used to respond to remote medical emergencies.

🩸Healthy Deposits: Mubadala-backed healthcare entity M42 announced a partnership with Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health to launch a Biobank with the region’s largest hybrid cord blood bank during Abu Dhabi Global Healthcare week. The facility will support medical research and delivery of stem cell therapies.

🌍 Power Circuit

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, on Monday approved the second phase of a heritage architecture project aimed at safeguarding 35 of the city’s historic sites from the 1960s to the 1990s. 

Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council, inaugurated the first Abu Dhabi Global Healthcare Week on Monday under the theme ‘Accelerating the Future of Global Healthcare.’

Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed, First Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and President of the Dubai International Financial Centre, appointed four new members to Dubai Financial Services Authority’s Board on Sunday. The appointments of Robert Ophèle, Andrew Procter, Javan Herberg KC and Sock Koong Chua will reinforce the emirate’s position as a leading financial and business center, Sheikh Maktoum said.

Sheikha Sheikha bint Saif Al Nahyan, the honorary president of the Make-A-Wish Foundation UAE, commended the selection of Abu Dhabi to host Make-A-Wish International’s annual “Global Wish” summit next June. She said the organization “embodies the spirit of compassion, generosity, tolerance, and humanity that distinguishes Abu Dhabi’s character.”

➿ On the Circuit

Jimmy Dunne, one of the architects behind the PGA Tour’s framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has resigned from the PGA Tour policy board effective “immediately,” citing a lack of progress on a potential deal with PIF as one of his reasons.

Lucy Frazer, UK Culture Secretary, said her country is “really keen to boost positive social change” in Saudi Arabia, in an interview with The Times, as a trade expo is underway in Riyadh touting British companies and institutions as possible investment and development partners in Saudi’s Vision 2030. 

Haitham Abdulkarim has been hired by U.S. private asset manager Blue Owl Capital Inc. to oversee the company’s institutional business in the Middle East, where he’ll focus on scaling investment and operations teams across Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Bloomberg reports. Abdulkarim was previously Head of UAE at BlackRock. 

Cristiano Ronaldo is investing in wearable tech start-up Whoop, as it expands in the Gulf. Announcing the partnership while reclining on a pool lounger, the Portuguese soccer star and Al-Nassr FC player revealed that one of his secrets to a good night’s sleep is never taking phone calls after 10pm. 

Michael Wong, Deputy Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, said his office is working with financial institutions in the Gulf on the listing of an ETF in the Middle East to track Hong Kong’s stock indices, among other developments to help Gulf sovereign wealth funds tap opportunities in China, in an interview with Zawya on the sidelines of the Capital Market Forum in Hong Kong last week.

🎶 Culture Circuit

🍺 Local brew: The first licensed microbrewery in the Gulf is busily fermenting beer in Abu Dhabi, in a sign of the steady loosening of laws around alcohol in the region, AFP reports. Chad McGehee, co-founder of Craft, said the brewery was using local ingredients including honey, dates, coffee and karak tea to produce unique flavors. He hoped the business would help make the emirate a destination people come to for beer, “like Germany, New York or San Diego.”

⚽ Teething Problems: Saudi Arabia’s billion-dollar splurge on football stars is yet to truly pay off, with the new-look Saudi Pro League failing to produce international accolades and suffering from a lop-sided season where PIF-owned Al Hilal remain unbeaten. But administrators say the league is a work in progress, AFP reports.

📷 Photo of The Day

🗓️ Circuit Calendar

May 13-15, Abu Dhabi, UAE: Abu Dhabi Global Healthcare Week. A conference focusing on investments, and innovation to solve the most important global health challenges. Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center and Abu Dhabi City.

May 14-15, Abu Dhabi, UAE: J.P. Morgan Asset Management: Life Sciences Innovation Summit. A gathering aimed at drawing startups and investors from the life sciences sector to Abu Dhabi. Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. 

May 14-16, Doha, Qatar: Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg. A news-driven event dedicated to global business and investment. This year’s theme is “A World Remade: Navigating the Year of Uncertainty.” Request your invitation here. Fairmont & Raffles, Doha.

May 20-21, New York City: SALT iConnections. SALT brings together more than 1,500 asset owners, asset managers and entrepreneurs for curated capital introductions and panel discussions. The Glasshouse.

May 20-22, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Future Aviation Forum. Airline executives, investors and government ministers gather for the third annual conference on the aviation industry. King Abdulaziz International Conference Center.

May 29-31, Marrakech, Morocco: GITEX Africa. The second edition of the biggest tech and startup gathering in Africa. Place Bab Jdid. 

June 5, Hong Kong: Bloomberg Wealth Event. A gathering to bring actionable intelligence to portfolio managers and other dealmakers and analysts from asset managers and owners, family offices and hedge funds. Conrad Hong Kong. 

June 23-26, National Harbor, Maryland: SelectUSA Investment Summit. The highest profile event in the U.S. to facilitate business investment by connecting thousands of investors, companies, economic development organizations and industry experts to make deals. Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.

MBS is headed to Japan amid kingdom’s push for foreign investment

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will travel to Japan later this month as the kingdom looks to boost foreign capital flows to fuel its vast Vision 2030 strategy.

The de facto leader will meet Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a trip from May 20 to May 23, the Japanese government said on Friday.

Japan is one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest buyers of crude oil and the kingdom was Japan’s eighth-biggest trading partner last year, according to the International Monetary Fund, totaling $42 billion. The Public Investment Fund is also one of the largest shareholders in Japanese gaming giant Nintendo Co., Bloomberg reported.

The trip is likely to build on the “Saudi-Japan Vision 2030” agreement that was forged on a trip MBS took to Tokyo in 2016. Under the pact, Japanese companies are to invest in industries such as agriculture, healthcare, energy and infrastructure in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia to highlight Vision 2030 progress as Davos crowd descends on Riyadh

The Davos crowd will descend on the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh this weekend as the World Economic Forum hosts a special meeting that begins on Sunday on themes of global collaboration and energy policy amid crisis in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia will gather top officials from the U.S., EU and the Arab world on the sidelines on Monday, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to discuss Gaza, Bloomberg reports. 

Within the conference halls, the kingdom will look to drive the conversation among the crowd of key partners toward the progress it is making on its Vision 2030 economic diversification strategy.

Under the wide-ranging plan, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks to transform the country by building up industries such as tourism, mining, technology and gaming.

Co-chairs of the Forum’s meeting include Ibrahim A. Al-Assaf, the Saudi Arabian Minister of State; Bill Ford, Chairman and CEO of General Atlantic; Chung Ki-Sun, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hyundai; Anna Marks, Global Chair of Deloitte; and Shunichi Miyanaga, Chairman of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, among other executives from shipping, energy and finance. 

Out of the 1,064 economic development initiatives that have been rolled out under the ambitious strategy, 87% are complete or on track, the state-owned Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday as it marked the eighth anniversary of the plan’s roll-out.

As of last year, Saudi Arabia recorded improvements in visitor numbers, home  ownership rates, the development of heritage sites, life expectancy and health services coverage, among other indicators. 

Saudi Arabia beats targets in energy, tourism, jobs for women

Saudi Arabia’s efforts to jumpstart its alternative energy and tourism industries while bringing more women into the labor market are running ahead of targets, though the kingdom still faces challenges to its aspirations for becoming a global financial center.

Citing the annual report on Vision 2030, the blueprint that was presented seven years ago to guide a dramatic revamping of Saudi society, officials said the improved benchmarks were due to world-leading economic growth in 2022. That growth came from increased oil revenue and bolstered the kingdom’s investment funds.

“Despite the global economic hardships, the country’s economy is growing at an unprecedented rate, and its GDP has risen to a higher-than-expected level,” Mohammed AlQahtani, CEO of government-owned Saudi Arabia Holding Co. said in a LinkedIn post. He said the government is “on track to surpass its Vision 2030 objectives.”

Among the markers outlined in Vision 2030, the annual report said that Saudi Arabia’s 25% share of non-oil exports in non-oil GDP beat its target by 6.3%. Excerpts from the Arabic-language report were posted Friday on the Vision 2030 website, which maps out economic and social milestones for the kingdom’s development over the next seven years.

Tourism revenue grew by 121% last year over 2021 as the country drew 16.5 million foreign visitors. Saudi Arabia introduced an online tourist visa in 2019, making it easier to enter the kingdom. The report said 909,000 direct jobs were created in the tourism sector, exceeding the 2022 target of 617,000.

The participation of women in the labor market doubled from 2016 and reached 34.5% last year, beating the Vision 2030 target for 2022 of 22.8%.

Bringing more women into the workforce and allowing them for the first time to drive were among the dramatic reforms introduced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, when he unveiled the Vision 2030 plan in 2016.

Writing in the report, the prince, who was appointed prime minister last year by his father, King Salman, said the numbers were promising but must improve. “Our country deserves more than what has been achieved,” he wrote.

Saudi Arabia led the G20 group of the world’s largest economies last year with 8.7% growth in GDP, followed by India at 6.7%.

Middle East risk manager Ghanem Nuseibeh said it was impressive that the Saudis exceeded the “very ambitious” goals set in Vision 2030, while noting the “low bar” from which tourism and the status of women started when the document was written.

“The challenge moving forward will become more difficult,” Nuseibeh, founder of London-based Cornerstone Global Associates, told The Circuit. “This is because moving forward would require upgrading the infrastructure … and convincing foreigners and expatriates to move to Saudi, which is also not going to be easy or cheap.”

Saudi Arabia issued a notice in 2019 requiring multinational companies to locate their regional headquarters in the kingdom in order to sell to the public sector, effective in 2024. Many expatriates are reluctant to move to the country because of its conservative Islamic lifestyle, which prohibits alcohol consumption and has a legacy of restrictions for women, even though the driving ban and dress requirements have been liberalized.

Saudi Aramco, the kingdom’s national oil company, posted 2022 net income of $161 billion, which was the highest profit of any publicly traded company in the world. Its chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is also chairman of Saudi Arabia’s $680 billion Public Investment Fund, said at a March conference in Miami, Fla., that he expects the sovereign wealth fund to grow to $1 trillion in assets by 2025 and at least $2 trillion by 2030.

“Will expats swap Dubai for Riyadh? That’s the big question,” Nuseibeh said. “Saudi Arabia can do it, they have the right leadership to implement it and they have the ingredients to make it happen. But turning those ingredients into reality will take time.”