Recently updated LinkedIn profiles indicate a hiring spree by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) as the Kingdom looks to use the sovereign wealth fund to jump-start its reform plans.
Reuters reports that several executives have updated their LinkedIn profiles to indicate a new affiliation with the PIF, but the PIF did not comment directly on the new hires.
New members of the PIF include Kevin O’Donnell, previously with Kaiser Permanente, as head of global private equity. Two others, Marc-Oliver Fischer, previously with Jefferies in London, and Jacobo Solis, previously with J.P. Morgan in New York, were hired as “investment professionals.”
Saudi Arabia’s PIF on LinkedIn.
“LinkedIn also shows the PIF made hires in the fields of compliance and risk. Martin Botha was appointed this month as director of risk to oversee the set-up of a risk management function; he was head of risk management at Kleinwort Benson, a London-based private bank. Richard Collins, previously head of risk management at Wood Mackenzie, a consultancy, was hired in October to build a compliance function at the PIF,” Reuters reports.
As the PIF fills its ranks, the investment fund is wasting no time striking deals around the world. In October, the PIF announced that it would create the largest venture capital fund in the world in cooperation with Japan’s SoftBank, with a fund size of $100 billion.
The PIF also announced it would back a new company that aims to be the Amazon.com of the Middle East, and is considering buying a stake in Riyadh-based ACWA Power, which operates power and water plants around the world.
The PIF invested $3.5b in Uber Technologies, Inc. this summer, following a whirlwind tour of the United States by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
