Saudi Arabia aims to create a logistics giant – Bloomberg
Saudi Arabia’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund is considering consolidating its diverse assets in the port, rail, and shipping sectors into a single entity, which would significantly intensify competition with the United Arab Emirates. The creation of a new logistics giant will attract foreign investment and enable the kingdom to serve its trade hubs much more efficiently amid global turmoil.
This is reported by Bloomberg.
According to the agency’s sources, discussions are currently in the preliminary stage, and a final decision on the creation of the new entity and the exact list of included assets has not yet been made.
The new company could serve as a vehicle for multi-billion-dollar investments in the logistics sector, and the fund is also considering the possibility of bringing international investors into this business. Currently, the investment fund controls or holds stakes in a number of large companies, including the $8.3 billion Saudi National Shipping Company, Saudi Global Ports, which manages ports in the Eastern Province and a network of dry ports in Riyadh, as well as Saudi Railway Co., whose freight and passenger networks cover a significant portion of the country. The need for alternative trade routes, including Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports, has become acute due to disruptions along the key waterway over the past three months, which have exposed serious vulnerabilities in supply chains across the Middle East.
The implementation of these plans will intensify competition between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, whose hubs in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have for many years positioned themselves as the main gateways to the region. Dubai’s development is largely driven by DP World Ltd.—a logistics giant operating in 83 countries, employing over 119,000 people, and managing the Middle East’s largest port, Jebel Ali, the London Gateway port in the UK, and operations in Africa and the US. Meanwhile, the AD Ports Group in Abu Dhabi, according to some estimates, accounts for nearly a quarter of the emirate’s non-oil economy. In response to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE has already stepped up its own investments, including plans to create an alternative export hub on the east coast and accelerate the construction of a pipeline to the port of Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman to double oil export capacity.
Electronic Arts (EA) has agreed to go private as a result of a $55 billion buyout deal struck by a group of investors. Among them are Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund—where the crown prince is a video game enthusiast—and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
In March, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recorded a sharp drop in crude oil exports to 4.974 million barrels per day, the lowest level since January 2002.
