Martin Kunzmann and I were discussing this today while looking ahead to our Saudi Arabia Credit & Investment Forum in Riyadh next week.

There is a huge amount written about capital in Saudi Arabia: how much exists, where it comes from, the scale of PIF, international investment into the Kingdom, the growth of private markets, the development of family offices and the emergence of private credit.

But we kept coming back to a slightly different question: how is that capital actually being deployed?

For an allocator, having capital available is only the beginning. The harder questions are where to put it, when to deploy it, through which manager or structure, how to price the risk, how much liquidity to sacrifice, what downside protection exists — and ultimately, how the capital comes back.

One of the clearest signals comes from PIF itself. Its 2026–2030 strategy places greater emphasis on investment efficiency, long-term returns, value realisation and increased private-sector participation.

PIF reports assets under management of more than $900 billion and more than $199 billion invested in new projects in Saudi Arabia between 2021 and 2025.

The conversation is increasingly moving from “Where can capital be put to work?” to “Where should capital be put to work — and on what terms?” That requires selectivity, underwriting discipline and considerably more attention to managers, structures, governance, risk-adjusted returns and ultimately realisation.

This is not simply about Saudi capital investing overseas. Saudi Arabia is increasingly both a source and destination of institutional capital.

According to Saudi Venture Capital data reported by the Saudi Press Agency, foreign private-capital investment in Saudi Arabia reached SAR20 billion — approximately $5.3 billion — in 2025, representing around 60% of total private-capital investment in the Kingdom. The number of foreign investors cited in the report increased from 28 in 2019 to 148 in 2025.

In July 2026, Brookfield announced an approximately $2 billion first close of Brookfield Middle East Partners, anchored by PIF and other institutional investors. The fund targets allocating around 50% of its investments to Saudi Arabia.

In credit, PIF and King Street announced a non-binding MoU around a private-credit fund focused on Saudi Arabia and the wider MENA region, including corporate capital solutions, asset-based lending and selected special situations.

Jada Fund of Funds has also continued to broaden private-debt activity, including an April 2026 commitment to Stride Ventures Debt Fund V aimed at expanding non-dilutive financing options for high-growth Saudi companies.

For allocators, this presents opportunity. It also creates complexity. Selecting a manager is only one part of the decision.

What is the underlying opportunity? Where does the return really come from? Is the investor adequately compensated for illiquidity? How much depends on leverage? What happens if an asset takes two years longer to realise than forecast? How robust is the security package? Who controls the situation if performance deteriorates? How mature is the local restructuring and enforcement environment? And perhaps most importantly: what is the exit?

This is where private credit becomes especially interesting. When we talk about deploying capital, we cannot only discuss origination. We also have to talk about monitoring, covenants, early-warning indicators, refinancing, restructuring, recovery and exit.

The deployment decision and the recovery strategy should never really be separate conversations.

This is also why Martin and I are particularly keen to speak to the allocators, investors and managers already joining us in Riyadh.

The current room includes representatives from Jada Fund of Funds, NEOM Investment Fund, SEDCO Capital, Sulaiman Al Rajhi Holding, Al Rajhi Capital, SNB Capital and ANB Capital, alongside investment managers and capital providers including Ruya Partners, Impact46, Merak Capital, Centricus, Fasanara Capital, ShoreVest Partners and Affirma Capital.

The banking and credit side is also represented, with organisations including Deutsche Bank, HSBC Saudi Arabia, Saudi Awwal Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Bank AlJazira and SC Lowy.

That mix matters, because we do not particularly want a theoretical debate about whether Saudi Arabia represents an interesting investment opportunity. We want the practical conversation: where are investors seeing genuine opportunities today? What are they not investing in — and why? What returns are necessary to compensate for the risk? What structures are allocators asking managers to create? How important will private credit become within those portfolios? What needs to develop before larger pools of institutional capital can be deployed? And what happens to that capital when an investment does not go according to plan?

Saudi Arabia's transformation has understandably generated enormous discussion around equity investment. But sophisticated private markets require more than equity: banks, public debt, sukuk, direct lending, asset-backed finance, private debt, mezzanine capital, infrastructure finance, special-situations capital, restructuring expertise, secondary markets and efficient mechanisms through which investors can realise their capital.

Saudi Arabia unquestionably has enormous investment firepower. Increasingly, though, the interesting question isn't how much capital there is. It's how that capital is being deployed — where it goes, who manages it, how it is structured, how the risk is priced, how it is protected and how it ultimately comes back.

Martin and I are looking forward to discussing exactly that with the people already joining us in Riyadh on 7–8 October 2026. If you are allocating or deploying capital in Saudi Arabia or across the GCC, we'd genuinely like to hear your perspective.

Sources:
Public Investment Fund — PIF 2026–2030 Strategy: https://www.pif.gov.sa/en/news-and-insights/press-releases/2026/chaired-by-hrh-crown-prince-pif-board-of-directors-approves-pif-2026-2030-strategy/
Saudi Press Agency / Saudi Venture Capital — International investors in Saudi private markets: https://www.spa.gov.sa/N2625609
PIF / Brookfield — Brookfield Middle East Partners first close: https://www.pif.gov.sa/en/news-and-insights/press-releases/2026/brookfield-announces-approximately-2-billion-first-close-of-pif-anchored-middle-east-focused-fund/
PIF / King Street — Private credit investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia and MENA: https://www.pif.gov.sa/en/news-and-insights/newswire/2026/king-street-and-pif-sign-an-mou-to-expand-private-credit-investment-opportunities-in-saudi-arabia-and-the-broader-mena-region/
Jada Fund of Funds — Stride Ventures Debt Fund V commitment: https://www.jada.com.sa/publication-resource/jada-fund-funds-commits-stride-ventures-debt-fund-v-diversify-funding-channels