Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has purchased a 40% stake in the Saudi Aramco-Jacobs Engineering Group joint venture (JV) company.
Jasara Program Management Company was set up in 2017 to provide management services for social infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia, and across parts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The PIF acquired 30% of Jasara from Saudi Aramco and 10% from Jacobs Engineering, giving it a total stake of 40%. The move is billed as ‘major’.
Following the transaction, Saudi Aramco’s stake in the joint venture now stands at 20%, while Jacobs Engineering’s stake stands at 40%.
According to a Bloomberg report, Jasara was created at a time when the Saudi government had announced plans to transform Aramco from an energy company into an industrial conglomerate. The move was part of the government’s effort to diversify its economy away from a reliance on oil sales. Aramco has already built the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah at the request of the government and established the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology on the Red Sea.