Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take a majority stake in MBC Group for about $2 billion

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will acquire a 54 per cent stake in regional broadcaster MBC Group for 7.47 billion Saudi riyals ($1.99 billion) as the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund boosts domestic investments.

Istedamah Holding Company, a major shareholder in MBC, has agreed to sell its stake in the media company to the PIF in a private transaction at 41.60 riyals per share, MBC said on Sunday in a filing to the Tadawul, where its shares are traded.

The closing of the deal is subject to regulatory approvals, the filing said.

Shares of MBC closed 10 per cent up on the Tadawul after the announcement on Sunday.

PIF will make cuts to its portfolio of foreign assets and focus more on domestic markets as it looks to establish the kingdom as the global centre of artificial intelligence, its governor Yasir Al Rumayyan said last week.

The fund, with $930 billion of assets under management, plans to cut its foreign portfolio by about a third as “there is a big paradigm shift in how PIF is deploying investments”, he said.

In August, the PIF said its assets under management increased 29 per cent to 2.87 trillion riyals last year as it solidified its Saudi holdings and diversified its international portfolio of assets.

The annualised returns for the sovereign fund since 2017 rose to 8.7 per cent last year, up from 8 per cent in 2022, the fund said in its annual report.

The shareholders' returns were “primarily driven by investments within Saudi Arabia, as well as international portfolio growth, as the PIF continued to forge strong partnerships and enhance shareholder value”, the fund said at the time.

Saudi Arabia, which is diversifying its economy away from oil, continues to maintain its appeal as a foreign direct investment destination, despite an increase in geopolitical uncertainty in the region, which underpins that the Vision 2030 programme is working.

MBC, which was founded more than 30 years ago, operates several popular television channels and digital platforms across the Middle East and North Africa region.

In December, the company raised 831 million riyals in an initial public offering after pricing it at the top of the range. The company set the final offering price at 25 riyals a share, for its offering of a 10 per cent stake amid “robust investor demand”.