Saudi wealth fund PIF leads investment in $800m Middle East infrastructure fund

Saudi wealth fund PIF leads investment in $800m Middle East infrastructure fund

The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund chaired by the Crown Prince, has agreed to commit up to a fifth of a planned $800m Middle East infrastructure fund being established by Aberdeen Standard Investments and Investcorp. The Aberdeen Standard Investcorp Infrastructure Partners fund has received the pledge of as much as $160m from the PIF, as the wealth fund is known, along with another $90m commitment from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, according to a statement Thursday. The rest of the financing is expected to come from investors including pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, family offices and private clients, it said. Aberdeen and Investcorp announced the fund two years ago with a view to channel investment into the Middle East's health care, education and utilities industries. Former UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon was appointed chairman of the fund last month. "Today's uncertain and challenging economic environment has created a gap between the need to develop or upgrade critical infrastructure and the resources available for such projects,“ said Investcorp co-CEO Hazem Ben-Gacem. Saudi Arabia is increasingly trying to push expenditure on new infrastructure projects out of direct spending from the Finance Ministry as it looks to narrow the budget