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Yasir Al-Rumayyan: Unique Saudi Role Model for Youngsters

Yasser Bin Othman Al-Rumayyan is the Governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Saudi Aramco, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ma’aden, Adviser to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers with the rank of Minister, President of the Saudi Golf Federation since October 2017, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Decision Support Center Saudi.

 He is also the Non-Executive Chairman of the Newcastle United Board of Directors since 7 October 2021.

Early Life and Education

Yasser Bin Othman Al-Rumayyan was born on February 20, 1970. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from King Faisal University in 1993 and a Public Administration Program Certificate from Harvard Business School in the US. He is also a member of the Saudi Organization for Auditors and Accountants.

Al-Rumayyan began his career at Saudi Hollandi Bank, where he held senior positions in several of its departments and became the director of the International Brokerage Department. Then he joined the Capital Market Authority as a member of the founding team in 2004G and was appointed as Director of Corporate Finance Department in 2008G until 2011.

Al-Rumayyan began his working life as director of international brokerage at Saudi Hollandi Bank between 1999 and 2004, then head of the securities listings at the Capital Market Authority between 2004 and 2007, and in 2008 he was appointed CEO at Gulf Investment Company, and between 2008 and 2010 he took charge of corporate finance management at the Capital Market Authority.

Al-Rumayyan also held the position of CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Saudi Fransi Capital between 2011 and 2015, and was a member of the Tadawul Board of Directors between 2014 and 2015, after which he worked as a consultant at the Royal Court in Riyadh between 2015 and 2016, and a member of the Aramco Board of Directors, succeeding the dismissed Minister of Communications.

 Al-Rumayyan is overseeing the Aramco IPO project, through which the Kingdom aims to increase the size of the fund to $ 2 trillion dollars and contribute to the expansion and settlement of the non-oil sectors in the Kingdom.

Memberships & Presidencies

In 2017, he took over the general supervisor of the Public Investment Fund, as the Kingdom’s government aims to increase the size of the fund to “two trillion” dollars; to invest abroad, and help expand the non-oil sectors in the Kingdom.

Yasser Al-Rumayyan is a special advisor and one of the people closest to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Yasser Al-Rumayyan heads, in addition to the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Aramco, and Newcastle United, which the investment fund recently bought.

Saudi Arabia held its annual investment conference in Riyadh, a bustling event that attracts business leaders and political officials from all over the world.

He used to attend a panel discussion with the chief executives of Goldman Sachs and BlackRock Money Management.

From May 2019 until today, he has held the position of Governor of the Public Investment Fund, and he has moved from high positions such as General Supervisor, Public Investment Fund, and CEO at Banque Saudi Fransi. Before that he held the position of Corporate Finance Manager at the Capital Market Authority, previously held the position of Head of Securities Lists Finance, Capital Market Authority, and before that he worked as Head of International Brokerage, Saudi Hollandi Bank.

He has also held for years the presidency and membership of the boards of directors of the Public Investment Fund (Board Member) and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Saudi Aramco, as well as the functions of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabian Mining Company “Maaden”.

He is also a member of the Board of Directors of NEOM, a member of the Board of Directors of the Red Sea Development Company, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sanabel Investment Company, in addition to holding the position of Head of the Decision Support Center of the Royal Court. The same applies to his assumption of the position of a member of the board of directors of Uber and a member of the board of directors of ARM Ltd

The Governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, Yasser bin Othman Al-Rumayyan, said in an exclusive interview with CNBC Arabia that the “The Line” project is the first NEOM project, and it is based on 14 different sectors in NEOM.

NEOM is a Saudi project for a city planned to be built across the border, launched by Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the Saudi Crown Prince on Tuesday, 4 Safar 1439 AH corresponding to October 24, 2017.

The project is located in the far northwest of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Emirate of Tabuk Region Duba Governorate, extending 460 km on the coast of the Red Sea. The project aims, within the framework of the ambitious aspirations of Vision 2030, to transform the Kingdom into a leading global model in various aspects of life, by focusing on attracting value chains in industries and technology within the project.

The first phase of NEOM will be completed by 2025. The project was supported by the $500 billion Saudi Public Investment Fund, and local and international investors. The NEOM Company, which was established in January 2019, is responsible for developing and supervising the NEOM area, a closed joint-stock company with fully paid-up capital and owned by the Public Investment Fund.

The company will establish new cities and complete infrastructure for the region, including a port, an airport network, industrial zones, creativity centers to support the arts, innovation centers that support the business sector, in addition to developing targeted economic sectors.

In October 2018, the CEO of the project, Eng Nazmi Al-Nasr, announced the operation of the first airport in NEOM before the end of 2018, and then weekly flights to it at the beginning of 2019, provided that the airport is one of a network of several airports that will be included in the project.

 The airport, which bears the symbol of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) airport, located in “Sharma”, received the first Saudi Airlines flight on January 10, 2019, through two Airbus (A320) commercial planes carrying 130 employees in the project.

Al-Rumayyan added that the fund is the largest and only shareholder in NEOM by 100% and that NEOM has two special funds, one for investment and the other for financing, noting that financing these investments is usually done through capital spending or partnerships with local or international investors.

According to Al-Rumayyan, the fund owns a 67% stake in Lucid, noting that the fund aspires to have partnerships in all NEOM sectors with entrepreneurs and international and local companies.

Al-Rumayyan pointed out that the fund’s investment outlook is long-term, that the fund’s foreign investments were less than 2% in 2016, and that it has now reached between 25% and 30%, indicating at the same time that the fund’s size may reach $2 trillion by 2030.

Aramco, the Saudi oil giant, has appointed the Secretary-General of the Board of Directors of the Public Investment Fund, Yasser bin Othman Al-Rumayyan, as Chairman of its Board of Directors, succeeding Minister of Energy Khalid Al-Falih, in a step that precedes the public offering of shares in the company.

The decision came days after the creation of a new Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources that operates separately from the Ministry of Energy, and the appointment of the Saudi investor and industrialist Bandar Al-Khorayef at its head.

In his tweet, Al-Falih wrote, “I congratulate my brother, His Excellency Mr. Yasser bin Othman Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Public Investment Fund, on the occasion of his appointment as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Saudi Aramco, which comes as an important step to prepare the company for the public offering, wishing him all success.” The expected subscription date, and the giant company’s preparation for an initial public offering in 2020 or 2021, in a process that is expected to be the largest offering of shares in the world.

Saudi Arabia seeks to reduce government spending, provide job opportunities for young people, maintain economic stability, rationalize its oil plans, develop the industrial and mining sector, and diversify resources in the world’s largest oil exporter.

Aramco plans to offer 5 percent of its shares for an initial public offering in 2020 or 2021, in what is expected to be the largest public offering in the world.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Aramco is studying the possibility of offering the initial public offering in two phases, starting with the first in Saudi Arabia, with the company being listed in a second phase on an international stock exchange, possibly the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The IPO plan is the cornerstone of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic reform program. “Vision 2030”, which was proposed by Mohammed bin Salman in 2016, aims to stop the dependence of the Saudi economy, the largest in the Arab region, on oil by diversifying its sources.

The company hopes to rise to $100 billion based on the company’s $2 trillion valuations.

Aramco had opened its books of accounts for the first time since its nationalization 40 years ago, to the international credit rating agencies “Fitch” and “Moody’s” last April, as part of its preparations to raise funds from investors.

The giant company achieved net profits of $111 billion last year, outperforming the five largest global oil companies, and generated revenues of $356 billion.

In August, Aramco announced its half-revenue for the first time in its history, noting that it declined in the first half of 2019 to $46.9 billion, compared to $53.0 billion for the same period last year.

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