Eventually, Goldman Sachs May Have Saudi Arabia Headquarters

(CTN News) – Goldman Sachs may locate its Middle Eastern regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia. This choice would be in line with the kingdom’s continuous efforts to draw in foreign businesses.

Bloomberg reports that the investment bank, which has its headquarters in New York, has been given permission by the Saudi Ministry of Investment to open an office in Riyadh. People who are already familiar with the issue are the source of this information.

Both the amount of workers that Goldman plans to move and the timeline for doing so are still unknown. Quartz asked for more information, but Goldman Sachs refused to provide it.

As reported last week at the Qatar Economic Forum, over 7% of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index is made up of Middle Eastern companies, according to Marc Nachmann, global director of asset and wealth management at Goldman Sachs. He claimed that this percentage might rise to ten percent.

Considering the substantial business prospects the Persian Gulf presents, Nachmann declared that “international investors will need to pay more attention to the region”.

There is a Goldman Sachs branch in Dubai and Tel Aviv.

The Kingdom’s RHQ program

The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Investment and the Royal Commission for Riyadh City together announced the Regional Headquarters Program with the aim of making Riyadh a worldwide hub for commerce. The program issued a serious warning to multinational corporations and went into force at the beginning of this year. It was first announced in February 2021.

Multinational firms were required by the policy to either locate their regional headquarters within the nation or not plan to do business here.

Businesses that take part in the scheme will be qualified for a tax incentive that provides a thirty-year guarantee of zero percent corporate tax and withholding tax. For all operations related to their Saudi headquarters, this rate will be used.

The project aims to pose a minor threat to Goldman Sachs Dubai’s nearby dominance in the local market. This city is home to the majority of Middle Eastern regional headquarters. It is the most populous metropolis and the hub of commerce for the United Arab Emirates. According to data from Infomineo, Dubai is home to 70% of the Fortune 500 companies with Middle Eastern headquarters.

According to Bloomberg, Khalid Al-Falih, the minister of investments, declared earlier this month that more than 400 international companies had been granted regional licenses in the nation. This implies that the program is definitely having an effect on the economy of the nation.

The status of Saudi Arabia is declining

To improve its standing internationally and refute the myth that it is somehow linked to the extraction of oil and fossil fuels, as well as human rights abuses, the Saudi government has been heavily investing in a wide range of sectors, including technology and sports. It has made investments in two industries: sports and technology.

There are rumors that the government has set aside forty billion dollars to fund Goldman Sachs advances in AI technology. As reported by The New York Times, representatives of the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund are working with some of the nation’s most well-known financiers, such as Andreessen Horowitz, on the artificial intelligence fund.

The Kingdom of Goldman Sachs Saudi Arabia has contributed billions of dollars to Silicon Valley over the last ten years through multiple fundraising cycles. Among the well-known businesses that have benefited from these funds are Uber and Lyft.

Moreover, it has made contributions to SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which has obtained holdings in a wide range of businesses, including GM Cruise, We Work, and Slack, indirectly supporting the area.

Furthermore, there has been a high degree of cooperation between the Saudi government and the sports sector, especially with regard to the 2021 start of the LIV Golf Tour.

Even though LIV Golf Investments was Goldman Sachs established in 2021, the Saudi Public Investment Fund still holds the majority of the company’s shares. There are 54 players on the list, and rumors have it that Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson received nearly $200 million in promises before they ever started competing.

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