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Saudi Wealth Fund May Make Major Investment in Building Firms

  • PIF eyeing minority stakes in four Saudi construction firms
  • Late government payments have crippled building industry
A construction worker passes an advertisement for the King Salman Park gardens and canals development in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A construction worker passes an advertisement for the King Salman Park gardens and canals development in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Photographer: Tasneem Alsultan/Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund may invest hundreds of millions of dollars in four local construction firms as it looks to bolster an industry that’s been crippled by payment delays from the government in recent years.

The Public Investment Fund is in talks with Nesma Holding, El Seif Group, Almabani General Contractors and Albawani to buy minority stakes in them or their subsidiaries, according to people familiar with the matter. The PIF has hired Rothschild and GIB Capital as advisers and is looking to take stakes of about 30% in each company, the people said.