RIYADH: The Future Investment Initiative has entered its second day, after Tuesday’s opening flurry in which 25 deals valued at more than $50 billion were signed.
Wednesday’s initial plenary sessions focused on better business, capital markets and private equity versus public markets.
To view the livestream:
Watch the livestream of Day 2 of #FII2018: https://t.co/QXYZSLwel2
— Future Investment (@FIIKSA) October 24, 2018
#FII2018: Princess Reema tells Future Investment Initiative in #Riyadh about her mission to boost uptake of sports in #Saudi Arabia. Follow our coverage of the @FIIKSA: https://t.co/NiHQAdPDbg pic.twitter.com/3XVsNgdrKC
— Arab News (@arabnews) October 24, 2018
Those in attendance for today’s sessions included Alex Dimitrief, president and CEO of GE Global; Ziad Abu-Ghararah, secretary general of PERSGA; Paul Holthus, chief executive of the World Ocean Council and Mehmood Khan, chief science officer of PepsiCo.
Others included Marianne Laigneau, group senior executive vice president of EDF, and Soren Schroder, chief executive of Bunge Limited.
Speakers on the capital markets panel were Ibrahim Al-Omar, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA); Samir Assaf, CEO of HSBC Global Banking & Markets; and Shujun Li, founder and managing partner of Trustbridge Partners.
Al-Omar, during the session, described the strength of the Kingdom’s financial sector, particularly the “high liquidity” in banks. The SAGIA chief mentioned Saudi Arabia’s diversification away from oil, as encompassed in the Vision 2030 strategy which, according to him, “is a once in a lifetime transformation.”
#FII2018: “We have a very strong financial sector with high liquidity in banks,” says Ibrahim Al-Omar, Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority. Follow our coverage of the @FIIKSA: https://t.co/NiHQAdPDbg pic.twitter.com/MPgOpEYvAM
— Arab News (@arabnews) October 24, 2018
HSBC’s Assaf described the change in roles of banks after the crisis: “We have asked banks to hold much more capital to support balance sheets and … to deleverage.”
Assaf noted the emergence of new types of capital markets suited for emerging markets, where more borrowings are done in local currency.
“This is something extremely important,” the HSBC executive said.
#FII2018: Samir Assaf, CEO of HSBC Global Banking & Markets: “We are seeing an emerging new type of capital market specifically for emerging markets. We are seeing much more borrowing happening in local currency. This is something extremely important.” pic.twitter.com/U5zpULB9LJ
— Arab News (@arabnews) October 24, 2018
Speakers in the session on private equity versus public markets were: Dr. Sahar Nasr, Egypt’s minister of investment and international cooperation; Shiv Vikram Khemka, vice-chairman of SUN Group; Fred Hu, founding partner of Primavera Capital; and Patrick Zhong, founding managing partner of M31 Capital.
#FII2018: Global executives from companies including GE Global, PepsiCo and EDF addressing Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh. Follow our coverage of the @FIIKSA: https://t.co/NiHQAdPDbg pic.twitter.com/V4ygxHzi45
— Arab News (@arabnews) October 24, 2018
Follow our coverage of the event, here.
