PIF pivots from builder to architect in new five-year strategy

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: Turki Al Alsheikh pulls out of Derby County deal

Good morning, friends. We’re closing the week with a major announcement from PIF, which has laid out its strategy for the rest of the decade. We also posed a few questions to the Real Estate General Authority to get a deeper understanding of how foreign ownership zones will function and change over time. Meanwhile, Acwa Power has once again set its sights on Indonesia — setting in motion the plan to build desalination infrastructure.

PLUS- Saudi Advanced Industries has tapped a new CEO — we take a look at that in today’s Moves, below.

Final whistle blown on Derby County takeover

The Derby County takeover has collapsed after General Entertainment Authority (GEA) boss Turki Al Alsheikh withdrew his proposal, Alsheikh said on X. The second-tier English club confirmed it is now off the market, and it will remain under the ownership of Clowes Developments.

Why? Regulatory clearance delays were cited as the primary reason for the withdrawal, which had left “no time to prepare the team or the club for the season ahead,” Alsheikh said.

Suspended

One-day suspension: TASI suspended trading in the shares of National Gypsum, Methanol Chemicals, Al Kathiri Holding, and Al Omran Industrial Trading for one trading day on 12 August, after the companies failed to announce their financial statements for 1H, according to an announcement.

What’s next? The four companies will resume trading for 20 sessions starting 13 August, and they must publish their financial statements by 9 September. If the companies fail to publish the statements within the 20-session period, trading in their shares will be suspended from 10 September until the financial statements are announced.

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The big story abroad

In the absence of a major update on the regional war, several stories from the business press took precedence on the front pages. Here are the most notable headlines:

US inflation in July was moderate: The consumer price index indicated that US inflation continued to ease last month, yet energy prices are still riding high since the US-Iran war erupted. The indicator rose 0.1% m-o-m and 3.4% annually, while core CPI (excluding food and energy) rose 2.5% over the year, potentially quelling the urgency of an imminent rate hike.

Bank of America has its eyes on the booming Indian economy, agreeing to acquire as much as 49.9% of Jio Financial Services’ lending unit for about USD 1.9 bn. The second-largest US lender will execute the investment through an allotment of shares and warrants in the Mumbai-based company, which is one of the region's fastest-growing financial firms.

Putting a price on the Truth (Social): US President Donald Trump has been hit with a lawsuit after his social media company Trump Media & Technology Group offered users a paid subscription that provides faster access to his Truth Social feed, through which he frequently signals policy changes. The service, called Truth API, charges a USD 100k monthly subscription and has been blasted by the plaintiffs as “profoundly corrupt” in a filing to a Manhattan federal court.

PIF unveils 2026-2030 strategy, shifting focus to private-sector leadership and capital recycling

The Public Investment Fund’s board-approved strategy for 2026-2030 is out, and it describes a fund that no longer wants to be Saudi Arabia’s builder of first resort. The plan names three explicit pivots: from “building” to “optimizing,” from “sectors” to “ecosystems,” and, most tellingly, from “public” to “private leadership.”

What’s changing: After a decade in which PIF was, by its own description, the primary buyer, builder, and risk-absorber across entire Saudi value chains, the fund now wants private operators, developers, and financiers to do more of that work, with PIF holding the design and the platform rather than every asset on it.

Why it matters: This is a genuine change in what the PIF is for. Since 2015, the PIF’s model had been to deploy capital directly into new sectors, from tourism to gaming, EVs, and lately AI, absorbing the early losses and execution risk that private investors wouldn’t touch, then scale from there.

The new strategy asks a different question of every holding — is this ready to stand on private capital, or does it still need PIF underneath it? The Strategic Portfolio is explicitly tasked with “optimizing liquidity through strategic listings, divestments, and capital-market activity” as “non-strategic assets are responsibly handed over to the private sector.” Put simply, the PIF is planning to sell down positions it once needed to hold.

The three portfolios

PIF has now formally split its holdings into three buckets, each with a different job and a different risk appetite.

The Vision Portfolio houses the six domestic “ecosystems” below and is designed to crowd in private capital alongside PIF-anchored companies. The Strategic Portfolio manages Saudi’s marquee holdings, both the push to scale them into global champions and new international bets in “disruptive technologies, energy and resource sustainability, and industrial transformation,” while also handling the exits and listings that free up PIF’s balance sheet.

The Financial Portfolio is the plainest of the three — diversified global investments run through institutional partners, aimed at growing returns rather than building anything domestically.

The six ecosystems

Within the Vision Portfolio, PIF names six sectors as its “primary engines for national development,” each with named anchor companies.

Tourism, Travel, and Entertainment covers Red Sea Global, Riyadh Air, Qiddiya, and King Salman International Airport;
Urban Development and Livability centers on Roshn, Kafd, New Murabba, and the Jeddah Central Development Company;
Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation spans Humain, Alat, Ceer, Lifera, and Saudi Arabian Military Industries;
Industrials and Logistics covers Maaden, Bahri, Hadeed, and Saudi Arabia Railways;
Clean Energy, Water, and Renewable Infrastructure runs through Acwa, Badeel, and the Saudi Investment Recycling Company;
Neom stands alone as the sixth, covering the ports, the Oxagon manufacturing hub, and the green hydrogen project.

Financing is shifting to match the new playbook

The strategy commits to a “broad mix of funding sources, including PIF equity capital, retained earnings, and domestic and international private investment” for portfolio company growth going forward, explicitly framed as enabling “capital recycling” rather than continuous fresh deployment.

OUR TAKE- That’s a fund preparing to finance its next phase with other people’s money as much as its own, a sensible posture for an institution whose megaprojects are maturing, and also a quieter posture — the strategy repeats a “more than USD 900 bn” asset figure for end-2025 in three separate places, a number PIF’s own audited financial statements, filed on the London Stock Exchange on 30 June, put it closer to USD 1.21 tn.

What’s next? The first real test is which Strategic Portfolio holdings move toward an actual listing or partial divestment. We’re also watching for how the six ecosystems firm up unevenly — tourism and urban development already have operating assets generating the kind of figures PIF cites in this document, while advanced manufacturing and Neom remain earlier-stage and more dependent on continued PIF capital regardless of what the strategy says about crowding in private money. PIF’s FY 2026/27 results, due around mid-2027, will be the first scorecard filed against a strategy that leads with governance scores and ecosystem framing rather than an asset-growth target.

REGA leaves door open on more foreign-ownership zones, but won’t say when

REGA leaves door open to expanding Saudi foreign ownership zones: With the foreign ownership zones now live and applications flowing through the Saudi Properties platform, EnterpriseAM put four open questions to the Real Estate General Authority (REGA), the body responsible for implementing the law. The answers suggest the map is a starting point, not a finished product, and that REGA is being deliberately careful about what it commits to.

REMEMBER- The foreign property ownership law has been in force since 22 January, and the Cabinet filled in the last major blank on 23 June, publishing the full Geographic Zones Document that sets out exactly where non-Saudis can buy. The map gives Jeddah 57 designated zones, Riyadh nine, Al Ula 17, Makkah 12, and Madinah 10, the latter two restricted to Muslim buyers.

Riyadh’s nine zones aren’t necessarily final. When asked whether designating specific areas signals an intent to steer investment, and whether the zones could expand, REGA tells us the geographic scope is “a regulatory tool to guide real estate growth and align ownership [prospects] with cities’ development needs and growth capacity.” Implementation outcomes will be monitored within the existing governance framework, and any changes to the approved zones will be announced only once REGA’s own review and approval procedures are complete. In other words, expansion is on the table, but REGA isn’t attaching a timeline to it.

The Makkah and Madinah split comes down to regulatory status. Foreign individuals can only own property in the two holy cities if they're Muslim, a restriction REGA calls “explicit and binding statutory provisions” tied to each ownership category’s status under the law.

BUT- The same restriction doesn’t extend to companies: Saudi companies with foreign shareholders can still own property within the approved geographic scope, subject to separate regulatory controls, giving non-Muslim foreign investors a corporate route into the two cities that individuals don’t have. REGA’s role, it says, is limited to implementing the law and verifying compliance for each category, not interpreting or adjusting the underlying rules.

REGA isn’t reducing year one to a transaction count. The authority points to a mix of process and outcome measures that would define the law’s success in its first year: a “unified digital journey,” efficient procedures, protection of rights, and market attractiveness for investment and high-quality developments, alongside transaction volumes and investment activity. Operational, investment, and market indicators will be assessed together, REGA says, suggesting they want to be judged on how smoothly the system runs as much as on how many transactions it produces.

Saudi Properties won’t touch your mortgage. REGA was clear that its platform is built for ownership procedures, compliance verification, and integration with the Real Estate Registry, not financing. Real estate lending stays with the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and licensed financing institutions, and while REGA says platform guidance will be updated as new financing-related coordination is approved, it stressed that any such guidance “does not constitute a guarantee of financing or approval.” Buyers hunting for a mortgage will still need to go through a bank.

Why it matters: The zones document and REGA’s answers land alongside a broader push to reshape Saudi real estate, from the expanded white land tax to the Cabinet’s amendment opening government land to private developers and Riyadh’s own Tawazoun land-balance program. Foreign ownership is the piece aimed squarely at external capital, and REGA’s answers suggest the rollout will stay incremental: zones can grow, but only through the same review process that produced the current map, and only once REGA is satisfied the digital and compliance machinery behind it is working.

Acwa Power’s SAR 1.5 bn desalination play in Indonesia

A splash of salt in Indonesia: Acwa Power has signed a USD 400 mn (SAR 1.5 bn) agreement with Indonesia’s state-owned PT Garam to develop what they describe as the country’s first seawater desalination and industrial salt production facility, according to a press release. The plant will produce 62.5k cbm of water per day and 500k tons of salt per year using seawater reverse-osmosis technology.

On-the-ground details: Set for construction in Manyar, East Java’s Gresik area, the project will be established under a build-own-operate framework through a local project company, funded through debt secured by the plant’s projected revenues. Acwa will handle financing, engineering, construction, and staffing, while PT Garam manages site preparation, sales channels, and regulatory coordination.

What’s the big idea? The venture aims to curb Indonesia’s reliance on foreign supply — driven by some 4 mn tons of industrial salt imported annually — by establishing domestic production.

More investment in Indonesia: Just last month, Acwa Power was among several Saudi firms that inked agreements and MoUs worth roughly USD 27 bn with Indonesian counterparts to invest in clean energy, petrochemicals, and aviation fuel. The renewables giant signed two separate MoUs with a combined value of USD 10 bn to develop the Southeast Asian country’s clean energy industry.

Tamara Finance posts 118% surge in 2Q 2026 net income

Tamara Finance Company posted a 118.3% increase in net income to SAR 84 mn in 2Q 2026, the firm said in a financial statement (pdf). Revenue also rose 119% y-o-y to SAR 539.9 mn in the same period, driven by the increase in merchant network revenue and Islamic financing income.

A jump in the first half: Net income in 1H rose 222.5% y-o-y, compared to SAR 64.3 mn in the same period last year. Meanwhile, total revenue increased 177% to SAR 1.38 bn.

Saudi Advanced Industries taps Fares Abdulrahman Al Fares as its new CEO

Saudi Advanced Industries Company appointed Fares Abdulrahman Al Fares as its new CEO, following the resignation of Khalid Abukhadhra (LinkedIn), according to a Tadawul statement.

Al Fares brings over 20 years of executive experience across banking, finance, and asset management. Prior to this move, he held the position of chief investment officer at the company, having also served as head of asset management at both Yaqeen Capital and Al Rajhi Capital.

ALSO- AFG International (Cenomi Retail) appointed Hussein Ali Shobokshi (LinkedIn) as chairman and Ahmed Wassim Alarabi as deputy chairman, following the election of the company’s new board for a four-year term at an extraordinary general assembly on 30 June, the company said in a Tadawul announcement.

Al Rajhi Capital and LogiPoint launch SAR 5 bn logistics fund for South Jeddah

New logistics fund: Al Rajhi Capital signed an MoU with LogiPoint valued at around SAR 5 bn to establish a dedicated investment fund for the South Jeddah Logistics and Industrial Park, Al Rajhi said on LinkedIn.

The CONTEXT- The project, which is located next to Modon’s Industrial City One in South Jeddah, will span 1.9 mn sqm, including nearly 1.5 mn sqm of leasable space for manufacturing, logistics providers, distributors, and regional supply chain operators. The development will feature dry warehouses, cold storage, temperature-controlled facilities, light industrial units, and staff accommodation, alongside build-to-demand and build-to-suit facilities for anchor tenants.

Next-year construction: Preliminary approvals have been secured, with final agreements expected by year-end and ground-breaking targeted for 1H 2027. Development will be phased, starting with purpose-built facilities for anchor tenants and expanding in line with market demand.

Coordinated US-Japan JPY intervention loses its grip as carry trade reasserts itself

The JPY has clawed back to 159 against the USD, shedding roughly half the ground it gained since Tokyo and Washington staged the first coordinated JPY-buying operation in 1998, CNBC reports. The intervention — which took place late in July — had briefly pushed the JPY’s rate to 155 per USD from over 163.

The math is simple, really: US 10-year Treasuries yield roughly 4.7% against 2.8% for Japanese equivalents — a gap wide enough to keep the carry trade alive no matter how many times the two governments buy JPY together. Monex’s Jesper Koll told CNBC that intervention can scare speculators but can’t override where the money actually wants to go.

Firepower backs up the point: The US Treasury’s main tool, the Exchange Stabilization Fund, holds under USD 220 bn in total assets — a stark contrast to the estimated USD 53 bn Japan spent in a single day (30 July) to defend its currency. Coordination buys optics, not leverage, Manulife’s Nathan Thooft told Bloomberg.

Oil prices and Japan’s status as a heavy energy importer are compounding the pressure, per CNBC, while Washington’s motive for stepping in has less to do with rescuing the JPY than protecting its own bond market. Treasury veteran Mark Sobel told Bloomberg that Japanese bond selloffs have occasionally spilled into US Treasuries and called FX intervention a “Band-Aid” for a problem that only fiscal discipline can address.

Even if the intervention held, the path was already sketched out: UBS strategists told CNBC they expected USD/JPY to stay range-bound around 160 into year-end even in a best-case scenario, while Lombard Odier’s John Wood argued the Bank of Japan (BOJ) still needed at least two more rate hikes to draw a durable line under the currency. In other words, a successful intervention was never going to mean a stronger JPY on its own — it was buying the BOJ room to hike without a market panic in the meantime, which is now shrinking.

OUR TAKE- Intervention may have been a stalling tactic dressed up as policy. The real lever is a BOJ rate hike, penciled in for September, and every week the BOJ hesitates is a week the carry trade gets to reassert itself. Markets have already priced that in, which is exactly why JPY 159 didn’t need a headline to get here.

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MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian stocks advanced in early trading, as anticipated US inflation figures tempered speculation that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again in the near future. South Korea’s Kospi gained 3.9%, while Japan’s Nikkei followed at 1.3%. The MSCI Asia-Pacific index, excluding Japan, gained 0.97%.

TASI	10,844	+0.1% (YTD: +3.4%)
MSCI Tadawul 30	1,458	+0.1% (YTD: +5.1%)
NomuC	21,781	+0.5% (YTD: -6.5%)
USD : SAR (SAMA)	USD 3.75 Sell	USD 3.75 Buy
Interest rates	4.25% repo	3.75% reverse repo
EGX30	55,040	+0.4% (YTD: +31.6%)
ADX	10,013	+0.1% (YTD: +0.2%)
DFM	5,920	+0.7% (YTD: -2.1%)
S&P 500	7,749	+0.3% (YTD: +13.2%)
FTSE 100	10,833	-0.1% (YTD: +9.1%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,534	-0.3% (YTD: +12.7%)
Brent crude	USD 88.16	+0.9%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 2.79	-0.5%
Gold	USD 4,488	+0.5%
BTC	USD 63,561	-0.3% (YTD: -27.5%)
Sukuk/bond market index	908.23	+0.2% (YTD: -1.2%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	150.82	+0.0% (YTD: -0.7%)
VIX (Fear gauge)	14.55	-4.8% (YTD: -2.7%)

THE CLOSING BELL: TADAWUL-

The TASI rose 0.1% yesterday on turnover of SAR 5.1 bn. The index is up 3.4% YTD.

In the green: Tabuk Agricultural Development (+10.0%), Knowledge Economic City (+7.8%), and Saudi Fisheries (+7.2%).

In the red: Lazurde Company for Jewelry (-4.3%), Abdullah Al Othaim Markets (-3.9%), and Derayah Financial (-3.6%).

THE CLOSING BELL: NOMU-

The NomuC rose 0.5% yesterday on turnover of SAR 18.9 mn. The index is down 6.5% YTD.

In the green: Saudi Top for Trading (+12.9%), Naf Company for Feed for Industry (+11.8%), and Al Ashghal Al Moysra (+10.0%).

In the red: National Building and Marketing (-10.8%), Digital Research (-7.5%), and Multi Business Group (-5.9%).

CALENDAR

AUGUST

30 August-1 September (Sunday-Tuesday): Saudi Paper and Packaging Expo, Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center.

31 August-3 September (Monday-Thursday): Leap Tech Conference, Riyadh Exhibition & Convention Center - Malham.

SEPTEMBER

8-10 September (Tuesday-Thursday): The WTM Spotlight Riyadh, Riyadh Front Exhibition & Conference Center (RFECC), Riyadh.

15-17 September (Tuesday-Thursday) The Global AI Summit, King Abdulaziz International Convention Center, Riyadh.

23 September (Wednesday): Saudi National Day.

28 September-1 October (Monday-Thursday): The International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV), Prince Sultan University, Riyadh.

OCTOBER

25-26 October (Sunday-Monday): The Global Proptech Summit, Mandarin Oriental Al Faisaliah Hotel, Riyadh.

26-28 October (Monday-Wednesday): ACHEMA Middle East, Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center.

26-29 October (Monday-Thursday): The Future Investment Initiative, King Abdulaziz International Conference Center, Riyadh.

28-29 October (Wednesday-Thursday): Procurement and Supply Chain Futures Forum, Mandarin Oriental Al Faisaliah Hotel, Riyadh.

28-29 October (Wednesday-Thursday): Real Estate Supply Chain Forum, Mandarin Oriental Al Faisaliah Hotel, Riyadh.

30 October-1 November (Friday-Sunday): The New Global Sport Conference, Sofitel Hotel & Convention Centre, Riyadh.

NOVEMBER

11-12 November (Wednesday-Thursday): Aluminum Arabia, The Arena, Riyadh.

16-19 November (Monday-Thursday): Cityscape Global, Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Centre (Malham), Riyadh.

29 November-1 December (Sunday-Tuesday): The UN Trade and Development Global Supply Chain Forum, Riyadh.

29 November-1 December (Sunday-Tuesday): The Global Logistics Forum, King Abdulaziz International Convention Centre, Riyadh.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2026:

2H: Sabic’s USD 6.4 bn Fujian project in China to start production;
November: The Esports Nations Cup, Riyadh;
The World Economic Forum’s Global Collaboration and Growth Meeting, Jeddah;

2027

FEBRUARY

1-3 February (Monday-Wednesday): Energy Regulators Regional Association annual conference, Riyadh.

MARCH

21-25 March (Sunday-Thursday):The World Water Forum, Riyadh.

22–24 March (Monday-Wednesday): Capital Markets Forum, Four Seasons Hotel, Riyadh

APRIL

26-29 April (Monday-Thursday): World Energy Congress, Riyadh.

JUNE

1-3 June (Tuesday-Thursday): The Saudi Entertainment and Amusement Expo, Riyadh Front Exhibition and Conference Center.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2027:

The Ocean Race finishes in Amaala on the Red Sea;
Riyadh-Kudmi transmission line to be completed;
Aero Middle East and Sand & Fun takes place in Thumamah Airport, Riyadh.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2Q 2027:

The Hail Region Water Networks Project is expected to be completed.

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