Saudi investment fund hires US PR firm to create distance from crown prince
New York-based Karv Communications will be paid $120,000 a month to “create a clear distinction” between the $200 billion fund and its embattled chairman.
Saudi Arabia's $200 billion public investment fund has signed a New York public relations firm to try to distance the fund from the country's embattled crown prince as it seeks to overhaul the kingdom's oil-based economy.
The fund's managing director, Yasir al-Rumayyan, signed a $120,000-a-month contract with KARV Communications on Feb. 16, according to newly uploaded lobbying filings. The firm is tasked with providing “investor and public relations advice and counsel by providing outreach and relationship-building to various stakeholders in business and the media.”
Tellingly, the first communication goal listed in an appendix to the contract is to “create a clear distinction” between the fund “and its investment-driven mission” and “the political leadership in Saudi Arabia.” This may prove a tough sell with Prince Mohammed chairing the investment fund, while Saudi ministers make up six of the remaining eight board members.
The Saudi public investment fund (PIF), launched in 1971, passed from the Saudi Ministry of Finance to the Prince Mohammed-chaired Council of Economic and Development Affairs in 2015. Under his leadership, “The PIF shifted its investment strategy from being a silent shareholder of major companies in Saudi Arabia to new investments in global technology firms,” said Robert Mogielnicki, a resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
