The Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth vehicle, is on course to acquire a majority stake in MBC Group, the Saudi media organization.
The PIF will be taking a stake in MBC Group for SR7.46 billion ($1.99 billion), it was revealed late last week in a filing.
The agreement entails the PIF taking the entirety of a stake held up until this point by the Istedamah Holding firm. 54% equates to 179.55 million shares.
MLBC has said the deal is still subject to a number of conditions and necessary approvals, and that it will be “executed as a negotiated deal in accordance with the Saudi Exchange’s trading and membership procedures at the completion of the transaction.”
This investment by the PIF follows on from that fund’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, saying late last month that it would be cutting its international investments and focusing instead on domestic projects.
The PIF’s current overseas investments, including sports investments into properties such as the Newcastle United soccer team, make up about 30% of its reported $900 million portfolio, with Al-Rumayyan stating his intention to reduce that figure down to 18%-20%.
The PIF’s stated aim is to reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil revenue by expanding revenue in other business sectors such as sport.
This has come through investments in soccer (Al-Rumayyan is Newcastle's chair), golf (through its LIV Golf tour), and combat sports under the Riyadh Season sports and entertainment festival brand.
With more high-profile events to take place within Saudi Arabia, it maintains that the country and its enterprises, which include the PIF, are set to focus investment back internally, both on sports events - it is now the main backer of four Saudi Pro League soccer teams - and major infrastructure projects such as the NEOM city.
These infrastructure projects, known internally as “giga-projects”, have recently been scaled back in ambition due to their massive cost, which may potentially be another reason why the fund is looking to channel more investment domestically as opposed to having it leave the country.
Accusations of sportwashing have in the past been levied against the PIF, which has been accused of being a vehicle to launder the reputation of the Saudi regime through sport. These accusations have never swayed the PIF from its goals, but may now lessen should the PIF's influence in international sport wane.
In terms of sporting content covered by MBC, meanwhile, that broadcaster’s streaming platform Shahid covers a wide range of soccer, motorsport, American football, boxing, and mixed martial arts.
The soccer rights held include domestic properties such as the Saudi Pro League and Kings Cup, Asia’s AFC Champions League and Asian Cup, and Spain's Copa del Rey.
Other properties include motor racing’s Formula 1 and American football’s NFL.
