Saudi Arabia will open its second U.S.-based investment office in Miami, using the city as a gateway not only to the U.S., but also to South America.
Invest Saudi, the kingdom’s nationwide brand to attract and promote investment into Saudi Arabia, is overseen by the Ministry of Investment. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, the minister of investment, announced the new office at the Future Investment Initiative Institute Priority Summit on Feb. 20 — which is being held in Miami.
The investment office will “invest regionally” and will “use Miami as a gateway — a gateway not only to the U.S. given its strong participation of owners of capital, innovation, and the great minds that are flocking to call Miami home; but we’ve also discovered by coming here regularly … (that) Miami is also a good gateway to South America, not just to North America,” he said. “And so by selecting Miami as our second office … after Washington … we’re opening new pathways for inbound investment into the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but also facilitating outbound investment.”
The announcement was made following the minister’s participation in a panel discussion about Saudi Arabia’s economy under its Vision 2030 plans.
Also on the panel was Kenneth C. Griffin, founder and CEO of the roughly $65 billion hedge fund Citadel, who in 2022 said he was shifting the firm’s headquarters to Miami.
Griffin — whose hedge fund does not have an office in the Middle East, according to its website — highlighted the importance of clear legal and regulatory frameworks to attract global investors to a kingdom.
“As a global investor, that’s music to my ears — I want to be involved in deploying capital in countries where I understand both the legal principles and the regulatory principles that will apply to me, and I want to believe that I will be fairly treated if there is ever a commercial issue that arises,” Griffin said. A number of alternatives managers have opened offices in the Middle East, but Citadel does not have an office in the region listed on its website.
In response to a question about advising clients in times of uncertainty, Griffin said while “economic uncertainty is high … the policy uncertainty is even higher.”
Much of the “substantial transformation” of the U.S. government is “good, much of this is important; much of this is long-needed rationalization of a bureaucracy that became too all-encompassing" and intrusive, Griffin said.
But the policy uncertainty that goes with such transformation “means it’s a very difficult time to invest.”
The status of tariffs makes it difficult to navigate investment, as well as working out “who will be an important ally to America going forward, and with whom are we breaking down long-standing relationships. And I really do hope that the administration finds a way to build as many bridges as possible around the world, to create pathways for American products, American goods and services — that’s very important to how we will successfully invest in the markets. Because we can invest when wealth is created,” Griffin said.
He added that he’s "a bit anxious about this sort of sense of a zero-sum game — ‘more for me, less for you,'" adding that a focus instead of making “the pie bigger for everybody around the world” would create wins for the U.S.
