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Saudi ‘Jada’ Plans Attractive Investment Funds in NEOM

Part of the ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative activities in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Part of the ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative activities in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi ‘Jada’ Plans Attractive Investment Funds in NEOM

Part of the ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative activities in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Part of the ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative activities in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia’s Jada Fund of Funds plans launching funds to attract investments in favor of NEOM, revealed Jada CEO Adel Al-Ateeq.

“We are looking to increase the volume of Jada’s investment by more than SAR 4 billion ($1.06 billion),” Al-Ateeq told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Since the beginning of Jada’s launch, we have invested in more than 20 investment funds,” said Al-Ateeq.

“The volume of investment in these funds exceeded SAR2 billion ($533.3 million), distributed among a number of venture capital and private equity funds in the Kingdom,” revealed the CEO.

Al-Ateeq stressed that Jada will continue to invest in venture capital and private equity in the Kingdom. He reaffirmed that the fund would carry on with the momentum it started with three years ago.

He pointed out that Jada’s capital initially amounted to SAR 4 billion ($1.06 billion) but hoped to increase its value in the future.

“We invested SAR 2 billion in 3 years... and I expect to continue at the same level during the next three years... We invested in 20 funds in several companies,” said Al-Ateeq, adding that Jada has capitalized in 350 local and regional companies.

“NEOM is still in the process of being established, and it is working to establish many targeted projects... Therefore, we are looking forward to launching investment funds that will give NEOM a share of its investments when its projects are launched,” revealed Al-Ateeq.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment (MISA) and Jada had formed a partnership to bolster the Kingdom’s start-up and innovation sector and support economic diversification under the ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative.

Jada, owned by the Public Investment fund (PIF), provides funding to start-ups in the Kingdom through commercially sustainable investments in venture capital and private equity funds.

MISA and Jada aim to connect leaders from government agencies, start-up entrepreneurs, investors and leading family business representatives from the Kingdom to participate in roundtable discussions and reinforce the private sector’s impact on the local economy.

The ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative is in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 which aims to raise small and medium sized enterprises’ (SMEs) contribution to GDP from 21% to 35% by 2030.

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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)

The United States on Thursday called on Israel to extend its cooperation with Palestinian banks for another year, to avoid blocking vital transactions in the occupied West Bank.

"I am glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian banks, but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cut off a vital banking channel between Israel and the West Bank in response to three European countries recognizing the State of Palestine.

On June 30, however, Smotrich extended a waiver that allows cooperation between Israel's banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank for four months, according to Israeli media, according to AFP.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the decision on the waiver was made at a cabinet meeting in a "move that saw Israel legalize several West Bank settlement outposts."

The waiver was due to expire at the end of June, and the extension permitted Israeli banks to process payments for salaries and services to the Palestinian Authority in shekels, averting a blow to a Palestinian economy already devastated by the war in Gaza.

The Israeli threat raised serious concerns in the United States, which said at the time it feared "a humanitarian crisis" if banking ties were cut.

According to Washington, these banking channels are key to nearly $8 billion of imports from Israel to the West Bank, including electricity, water, fuel and food.