Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has launched a company that will invest in promising sectors throughout Egypt including financial services, infrastructure as well as real estate and pharmaceuticals.
PIF said in a statement on Friday that the new company the Saudi Egyptian Investment Company (SEIC) will also enhance access for the wealth fund and its portfolio companies including Saudi Arabia’s private sector to a variety of investment opportunities in the North African country.
The establishment of the investment firm by the PIF comes nearly a month after Saudi Arabia and Egypt signed 14 investment pacts valued at $7.7 billion. Saudi Arabia also deposited $5 billion in the Egyptian central bank in the first quarter of this year.
“In light of the economic growth in the region, SEIC will capitalize on lucrative investment opportunities within several promising Egyptian economic sectors, which will also support the expansion efforts of Saudi businesses and other PIF portfolio companies,” Yazeed Alhumied, Deputy Governor and Head of MENA Investments at PIF said in the statement.
Egypt has also received help from other oil-rich GCC nations who’ve pledged more than $22 billion in deposits and investments in recent months. The most populous nation in the Arab world has been ramping up efforts to fight inflation, including the central bank’s decision to devalue the local currency in March as its economy reels under new financial pressure from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The launch of SEIC is part of PIF’s broader strategy to explore new investment opportunities in the MENA region.
