RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- The U.S. and Saudi Arabia signed hundreds of billions of dollars worth of deals during a visit by President Trump over the weekend, as Riyadh seeks to develop its economy beyond oil under a plan known as Vision 2030.
Among them: $50B of energy agreements with Saudi Aramco (Private:ARMCO), a $40B U.S. infrastructure fund created with Blackstone (NYSE:BX), and an arms deal worth $350B over a decade (the largest in U.S. history) representing thousands of jobs for Americans.
The private equity firm, Blackstone and Saudi Arabia's main sovereign wealth fund announced plans to create a $40 billion vehicle to invest in infrastructure projects, mainly in the United States.
Blackstone and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for the project, which will depend on further negotiations.
Blackstone said it expected the vehicle to have $40 billion of equity commitments, with a $20 billion anchor investment from the PIF with the rest from other investors. Through this equity plus debt financing, Blackstone expects to invest in more than $100 billion of infrastructure projects, it said.
The new fund "reflects our positive views around the ambitious infrastructure initiatives being undertaken in the United States as announced by President Trump," the PIF's managing director Yasir al-Rumayyan said.
Blackstone president Hamilton James said, "This will create well-paying American jobs and will lay the foundation for stronger long-term economic growth."