A £360m joint investment package that will generate 180 new jobs has been signed by the UK and Saudi Arabian governments.
The deal, unveiled by Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds at the Great Futures Summit in London this week, focuses on clean energy and professional and financial services and will bring economic benefits to both countries.
It forms part of the Labour Government’s modern Industrial Strategy, a 10-year plan aimed at kickstarting growth in British industry, and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic blueprint.
As a result of this deal, Britain will benefit from more than £150m of Saudi investment that will create 97 British jobs. These will mainly come from a Saudi Arabian conglomerate Alfanar opening a new London-based headquarters that will house its transport decarbonisation department.
This represents a £94m investment and will create 80 new jobs for highly skilled professionals, who will contribute towards the Teeside-based £2bn Lighthouse Green Fuels initiative.
The investment package will also see Saudi real estate advisory group International Investment Gate open a new European headquarters in London. Set to employ 17 people, it’ll manage £550m of British assets and create a new £60m real-estate fund.
In addition, London-based VC Lexham Partners and Saudi investment bank ANB Capital will team up on a new $200M Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Growth Fund.
Under this agreement, several British firms will also expand their operations to Saudi Arabia. They include a new Control Risks regional HQ in Riyadh, a Salica Investments $75m Saudi-based fund, $7.5m of investment from Paymentology that will create new jobs and cloud infrastructure for the Arab nation, and over ten education and skills partnerships.
Reynolds said in a statement: “Britain is a thriving business hub, and today’s new investment announcements are not only a major vote of confidence in our economy but demonstrate our thriving partnership with Saudi Arabia.
“Our modern Industrial Strategy is giving investors the confidence they need to plan not just for the next year, but for the next 10 years and beyond – helping to create economic growth as part of our Plan for Change.”
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