The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, has set up five investment companies in Jordan, Bahrain, Sudan, Iraq and Oman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Wednesday.

The move follows the launch of the Saudi Egyptian Investment Company (SEIC), a wholly owned PIF subsidiary, in August 2022. The six companies aim to invest up to a total of 90 billion riyals ($24 billion) in key sectors including infrastructure, real estate development, mining, manufacturing, and food and agriculture, PIF said in a statement.

The five new companies is expected to increase investment opportunities for PIF’s portfolio companies and Saudi Arabia’s private sector. The companies were launched at Future Investment Initiative (FII), also called 'Davos in the Desert', currently taking place in Riyadh. The event is showcased to attract foreign investment into the kingdom.

On Tuesday,  the Saudi Ministry of Investment  signed a slew of investment deals across sectors, including in aerospace, to bolster its position in the global supply chain.

The state fund, which is building an international portfolio of investments while also investing locally in projects that will help reduce Saudi Arabia's reliance on oil, has assets under management of approximately $620 billion.

The crown prince said last year the kingdom was planning to invest SAR12 trillion by 2030 as part of a SAR27 trillion spending push to diversify the economy of the world's biggest oil exporter.

(Writing by Brinda Darasha Brinda.darasha@lseg.com; editing by Daniel Luiz)