Warburg Pincus and Saudi Arabia’s $320 billion pension fund manager Hassana Investment Co. will jointly explore deals in the kingdom as the global private equity firm looks to boost its presence in the Middle East.
New York-headquartered Warburg and Hassana signed an agreement to explore investment opportunities that contribute to the long-term growth of Saudi Arabia, according to a statement. The two firms have had a decade-long partnership in international markets.
Bloomberg News had reported in January that Warburg was planning to boost its presence in the Middle East.
The $86 billion firm’s peers like Ardian, General Atlantic and CVC Capital Partners have either opened offices for deal-making in the region or boosted headcount.
Warburg currently has exposure to the Middle Eastern market through Gradiant, a clean-tech water projects solutions provider and developer. Its previous investments in the region include business process outsourcing solutions provider Mercator, which it combined it with Accelya and exited in 2019, and payments firm Network International.
Hassana has become an increasingly active global investor after a merger of two Saudi pension funds in 2021 helped catapult it into the ranks of the world’s largest.
Last year, it signed agreements with EIG Global Energy Partners and Brookfield Corp. to explore backing new Middle East investment funds that the two firms are launching. It also said it would invest $1.5 billion in TPG’s climate funds.
The world’s largest investors in recent years have been flocking to Saudi Arabia to form partnerships with the likes of Hassana and the nearly $1 trillion Public Investment Fund as the kingdom looks to boost returns on its vast savings and attract more firms to invest in the Middle East.
