The great Saudi sell-off: why bankers and lawyers are flocking to the Gulf

Don’t even think about getting the Sunday morning flight from Dubai to Riyadh. The same applies to the Thursday afternoon slots going back.

Both – and many in between – are booked solid by investment bankers, corporate lawyers, accountants, consultants and PR advisers who appreciate the weekend comforts of the UAE, but who know the big business is to being done in Saudi Arabia.

A huge economic transformation is planned for the kingdom, and the fees on offer are well worth a few days of strawberry juice in the puritan luxury of a five-star hotel in the Saudi capital.

Saudi Arabia is lining up a privatisation of state assets that dwarfs the Thatcher “revolution” of the 1980s, and rivals the 1990s dissolution of Soviet assets in scale and significance. It has hung a “for sale” sign on virtually every sector of Saudi economic life: oil, electricity, water, transport, retail, schools and healthcare. Even the kingdom’s football clubs are due to be auctioned off. Read more…