Saudi Arabia has replaced the chief executive of one of Riyadh’s flagship real estate mega-projects, in the latest sign of a shake-up of the sprawling portfolio of subsidiaries owned by the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
Michael Dyke, a Briton who had been head of New Murabba for less than three years and was previously involved in the UK’s High Speed 2 rail project, has been replaced by Sabah Barakat. A veteran of Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, Barakat has taken over as acting CEO of the more than $50bn project, which includes ambitious plans for a 400-metre by 400-metre cube structure known as the “Mukaab”. The move comes after the PIF, which is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, conducted a review of the more than 100 portfolio companies and projects it has launched over the past decade, many of which have suffered delays and cost overruns.
Under pressure to deliver returns after a massive decade-long spending spree, the near $1tn sovereign fund has been reassessing its projects as it decides which should be prioritised and which should be scaled down or held back. More
