King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia / © tokyo studio
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), BCG employee ? This is what it highlights Bloombergciting several anonymous internal sources. Ihab Khalil, a senior partner of the Boston Consulting Group, who holds an MBA from Insead and who worked with Booz & co before joining BCG in 2014, would be the face of this predominant influence on the fund’s strategy.
Several sources cited by Bloomberg describe him as the pivotal man of the fund, in its ambition to become a top-notch global investor (the PIF aims to triple its size by 2030 to reach $ 2 trillion in assets under management. ).
Close to Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, he supplants the two executives currently in charge of strategy within the fund (including in particular Chad Richard, former partner of the BCG before joining the PIF). A former Advancy partner was also recently Chief Strategy Officer of the PIF.
Ihab Khalil, according to anonymous sources of Bloombergwould present himself internally as the oldest person currently currently in charge of the PIF strategy.
Another proof of this strong interpersonal relationship, the Kingdom, which does not recognize dual nationality, has granted Ihab Khalil the Saudi nationality – a Lebanese nationality, moreover.
According to Bloombergthe 1,700 employees of the PIF are assisted by 100 permanent strategic advisors, many of whom would be mobilized by the BCG.
Saudi Arabia remains an extremely vibrant market for strategic consulting, even shortly after the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In 2017, consultants from BCG and McKinsey were often seen wandering the halls of the Crown Prince’s palace at night between midnight and 7am. To make a good impression there, McKinsey did not hesitate to hire the children of the kingdom’s dignitaries.
