- Ties with Brazil are growing with two-way investments
- Abdulrahman Bakir helped lead tour of 100 delegates to region
Before 2020, Saudi Arabian investment in Brazil was so small that it didn’t even appear in the central bank’s database for relevant foreign inflows.
That figure jumped sevenfold to $4 billion through 2023, and should keep growing, said Abdulrahman Bakir, managing director of the Americas for the Saudi Investment Ministry.
Key to increasing the two-way flows of money between Brazil and Saudi Arabia — as well as with the rest of Latin America — is connecting institutional investors, private companies and especially family offices, which are multiplying globally and becoming a bigger source of capital, Bakir said.
Last year, the ministry hosted a delegation of 100 Saudi officials, executives, investors and members of family offices to tour seven countries in Latin America over 10 days which led to $3.5 billion of potential investments through memorandums of understanding.
“Think about it as an umbrella of investors,” Bakir said last week in an interview on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative Institute event in Rio de Janeiro. “The sovereign wealth fund, private companies, public companies and family offices. We’re trying to really emphasize a lot now in family offices.”
There’s a plan to connect the top 20 family offices from both countries in “upcoming engagements” this year, he said.
Since taking the Washington-based role, Bakir said he’s pitched his boss, Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih, on expanding their focus to include Latin America and received support.
“The US relationship is very important. It’s been there for ages,” he said. “Frankly, you don’t need me or anyone, no one can really shake the US because it’s the strongest ally for Saudi. But what about South America?”