Saudi Arabia signed more than 25 deals ranging from energy to metals at its flagship investment forum, as Turkey added to outrage overshadowing the event by urging the kingdom to hold culprits in the killing of a government critic to account.
State-run Saudi Aramco signed 15 of the agreements, including deals with French oil giant Total SA, oil-services provider Halliburton Co. and Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Commodities trading house Trafigura Group and an affiliate of Riyadh-based Modern Industrial Investment Holding Group announced a joint venture to develop a smelter and refining complex, according to an emailed statement.
Some of the deals, totaling about $50 billion, had been announced previously, while others were for new ventures or marked progressive steps on existing agreements. Of these, Aramco signed deals valued at $34 billion, including agreements with Sumitomo Corp. and Chinese conglomerate Norinco.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is seeking to show that it’s business as usual after dozens of top bankers, chief executives, and foreign dignitaries canceled plans to attend the summit. The event is the brainchild of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who runs day-to-day business in the kingdom, and was envisaged as a stage to showcase new ventures and unveil billion-dollar contracts in front of the world’s business elite.
The 33-year crown prince has come under pressure since the Saudi government acknowledged after days of denials that a group of his own intelligence officers had killed a Washington Post contributor, Jamal Khashoggi, at the country’s consulate in Istanbul.
The deals were signed on stage at the event in Riyadh as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed parliament in Ankara to say that Khashoggi’s killing was the result of a meticulously planned plot, rejecting Saudi claims that it was an accident and calling on the king to hold all culprits to account.
Mostly of the agreements were memorandums of understanding rather than final investment decisions, in what appears to be an effort to shore up confidence among international business leaders.
Participants Cancel
While global business titans commended the prince last year for his ambitious plans to transform the nation’s oil-dependent economy, executives in industries from banking to new technologies skipped the conference this time.
BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink and JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon are among finance executives who pulled out. Several big banks, however, have sent regional executives to the conference, walking a fine line between the risks of stoking the outcry over Khashoggi’s killing and losing future businesses in Saudi Arabia. Ken Moelis of investment bank Moelis & Co. was due to speak at the event, according to the event’s app.
Top oil industry officials were still participating, including Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne and executives of Schlumberger Ltd. and Baker Hughes, two of the world’s top oil services groups.
Ritz Carlton
The conference opened in a glittering convention center adjacent to the same Ritz Carlton hotel where dozens of Saudi billionaires were detained last year in the government’s purported crackdown against corruption that shocked international and local investors. Although many foreign executives stayed way, the main conference room was fully packed, illuminated by a dozen chandeliers each bigger than a car.
In his welcoming remarks, Yasir Al Rumayyan, managing director head of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund and host of the conference, made no reference to Khashoggi. Minutes later, Lubna Olayan, billionaire head of one of the largest Saudi conglomerates, used the start of a panel discussion on investment to mourn the columnist’s death, saying his killing was “alien” to Saudi values.
“We are very grateful that the terrible acts reported in recent weeks are alien to our culture and our DNA,” Olayan, CEO of Olayan Financing Co., said in her address. “I am confident that with the support of the government, concerned authorities and leadership, the truth will emerge.”
Other speakers included Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and Mubadala Investment Co. CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
– by Archana Narayanan and Javier Blas
