(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. is set to get as much as $5 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to invest in the Middle East and build a Riyadh-based investments team, one more sign that the world’s largest asset manager is intensifying efforts to grow in the kingdom.

The new entity, BlackRock Riyadh Investment Management, will be set up under a partnership between BlackRock and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. It will incorporate strategies across asset classes, including private and public markets, according to a statement Tuesday.

Investments will be managed by a Riyadh-based portfolio management team and supported by BlackRock, and it will seek to raise additional money from local and international investors.

“The continued growth of the kingdom’s capital markets and diversification of its financial sector will contribute to future prosperity for its citizens,” BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said in the statement. “Saudi Arabia has become an increasingly attractive destination for international investment.”

The announcement comes amid BlackRock’s aggressive push to grow its presence in Saudi Arabia, with executives privately highlighting the region as one of the firm’s top priorities. This week the $10.5 trillion asset manager hosted a gathering of top corporate executives and government officials in Riyadh, the US firm’s first event of this scale in the Saudi capital. 

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Saudi Arabia has been using its $925 billion sovereign wealth fund to attract more businesses to build up operations in the kingdom. The latest BlackRock deal reflects a desire by the PIF to develop the local asset management industry, which has mostly been dominated by Saudi firms, and promote more investment inside the kingdom.

Franklin Templeton appointed Saudi national Muneera AlDossary as CEO of its new Saudi operations in October. Northern Trust said it had received a so-called regional headquarters license in December, making it one of the first financial firms to get such a permit. 

A flurry of investment activity by the PIF, whose chair is the kingdom’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has also helped put Saudi Arabia on the radar of the world’s top financial firms. An annual investment conference in Riyadh in October frequently attracts the likes of Fink, as well as the chief executives of Blackstone Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The PIF is the main entity charged with driving Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 program, which aims to diversify the oil-dependent economy. With the Saudi government predicting a deficit every year until 2026, there’s a sense of urgency at the fund to line up funding for its billions of dollars of spending commitments.

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