PIF unit hands Khobar Downtown plots to Samou for 32% profit share

Summary

• Samou Real Estate signed three agreements to develop Downtown Khobar plots owned by a PIF subsidiary.
• Samou takes 32% of net project profit; Downtown Saudi contributes the land as an in-kind stake.
• The structure offers a template PIF could repeat across its other Saudi Downtown developments.

The latest

A small listed developer has secured 32% of the net profit from a PIF-backed project in Khobar. Samou Real Estate told the Saudi Exchange it signed three agreements dated November 1, 2026 with Downtown Saudi, wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund, to build a residential tower and mid-rise buildings flanking the boulevard. The developer puts in no land.

Details

• The counterparty: Downtown Saudi is wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund and is the vehicle behind the Downtown Khobar scheme, according to Samou's filing on the Saudi Exchange. It contributes the land to the partnership as an in-kind stake rather than cash, leaving Samou to run the development.
• The assets: The agreements cover a high-rise residential tower on a plot of 4,827 square meters, plus mid-rise buildings located both north and south of the boulevard inside the Downtown Khobar project, per the disclosure. Asharq Business put the combined land area involved at roughly 61,500 square meters.
• The economics: Samou receives 6.5% of development costs for development management, 2% of sales for marketing, and 32% of the project's net profit, the filing said. The three income lines run in parallel, meaning the developer earns through the build phase as well as on the final result.
• The timeline: The agreements run for 48 months, or four years, according to the Saudi Exchange disclosure. The announcement did not break that period into construction, delivery or sales milestones, nor set a date for the start of works on any of the three sites.
• Not disclosed: The announcement carried no estimate of total project cost and no projection of expected revenue, meaning the value of Samou's 32% share cannot be derived from the filing. No figure was given for the land's assessed value as an in-kind contribution either.
• The asymmetry: The arrangement pairs one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds with a small listed developer. PIF's unit supplies the balance-sheet asset, the land, while Samou supplies execution capacity and marketing, and is paid on cost, on sales, and on profit.
• Disclosure route: The agreements were made public through an issuer announcement on the Saudi Exchange, the mandatory channel for listed companies reporting material contracts. Asharq Al-Awsat reported the terms citing that filing, with Asharq Business adding the aggregate land area.

Background

Downtown Khobar is one of several urban Downtown developments under PIF's umbrella in Saudi Arabia, built around a central boulevard with residential and mixed-use blocks. The fund has increasingly used subsidiary vehicles to hold land and bring in outside developers rather than building directly.

Between the lines

The structure is notable for what PIF does not put at risk. By contributing land as an in-kind stake and paying a profit share rather than a fixed fee, the fund keeps capital exposure limited while tying the developer's return to the project's outcome. Since the land area and fee percentages are now public, the same template can be benchmarked if PIF applies it to other Downtown sites.

What's next

Watch Samou's subsequent exchange filings for a stated project cost, revenue guidance or a construction start date, and for whether Downtown Saudi uses comparable profit-share terms on its remaining plots.

Source: Asharq Al-Awsat, Asharq Business, Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) issuer announcements