(Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has opened a new office in the financial district of Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh, increasing its presence in the Middle East’s largest economy.
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The Wall Street firm, which has been operating in the Saudi since 2008, will relocate to the King Abdullah financial district next year, joining Paris-based Rothschild & Co. and a number of others with stores in the hub, which spans 1.6 square meters. You will be joining a prestigious institution. million square meters.
The move comes just as Saudi Arabia launches its flagship Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh. The event, also known as the “Davos of the Desert,” attracted some of the biggest names in the financial world, including Goldman CEO David Solomon.
The business district, known as KAFD, lay dormant for many years until Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund took over the area in 2018. Since then, several government agencies have come to establish KAFD, including the Public Investment Fund itself, local stock exchanges, and increasingly foreign companies. Office there.
This trend has further accelerated following the government’s push for foreign companies to set up Middle East headquarters in Saudi Arabia.
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Saudi Arabia’s efforts to encourage foreign companies to set up regional hubs in Riyadh appear to be paying off. Goldman became the first major international bank to win such a regional headquarters license earlier this year, followed by Tokyo-based Mizuho Financial Group.
The revival of the business district puts it in direct competition with similar hubs in Abu Dhabi, especially Dubai. The majority of foreign financial companies have traditionally served a wider geographical area and have their largest regional presence from these cities.
KAFD Chief Operating Officer Sultan Alobida said Goldman’s presence in the financial district “enhances the potential for further growth and maintains the momentum of the transformation of Saudi Arabia’s financial landscape.”
The firm ranks as the No. 3 advisor for equity offerings in the Middle East so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. This includes work on transactions including Saudi Aramco’s $12 billion secondary offering.
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Fadi Abu-Ali and Zaid Khaldi, co-CEOs of Goldman Sachs’ Middle East and North Africa region, said: “We see great opportunity to do business in Saudi Arabia, and we believe there are significant opportunities for doing business in Saudi Arabia. “We have ambitions to grow across banking and markets.”
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