RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s corporate leadership is reinforcing its position in international boardrooms, with Amin Nasser, CEO of the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., joining the board of the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock Inc.
According to an announcement by the US-based monolith on Monday, Nasser will join the board as an independent director replacing Bader Al-Saad, director general and chairman of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.
The release further said that Nasser oversaw the successful listing of Aramco, the largest initial public offering in history, and would bring the board the perspective of a CEO at the helm of some of the most important business trends globally.
Nasser has been instrumental in steering the growth of Saudi Aramco, including leading the company’s entry into the global debt and capital markets with its first bond issuance in 2019.
According to BlackRock, one-third of its directors have been newly elected over the past five years, reflecting the company’s commitment to continually evolving and benefiting from fresh insights.
“Bader’s international investment experience has been instrumental to BlackRock’s success, and I sincerely thank him for his dedication to the firm,” said Laurence Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, while thanking Bader Al-Saad for serving the company’s board.
Fink added: “The wisdom and guidance that he has given the board throughout his tenure has been crucial to our growth in the Gulf region and globally.”
BlackRock has also evinced interest in participating in Saudi Arabia’s growth story. In June, Rachel Lord, head of the Asia-Pacific region at the company, stated that the firm had invested more than $15 billion in natural gas pipelines in the Kingdom.
In a statement to Reuters, she added that the Kingdom is a very appealing destination with “a strong set of investment opportunities to come.”
Moreover, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and BlackRock signed an agreement in November last year to jointly explore infrastructure projects in the Middle East, primarily focusing on the Kingdom.
PIF has signed a memorandum of understanding with the firm to help attract regional and international investors to projects, including those in the energy, power and utilities, transportation, telecommunication and social infrastructure sectors.
