Yasir Al-Rumayyan reveals how the PIF have stayed 'efficient' amid Newcastle United takeover wait

Newcastle United's prospective takeover is in the hands of the Premier League who are conducting their owners' and directors' test and Yasir Al-Rumayyan has outlined how Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund have stayed 'efficient' during the coronavirus pandemic

Yasir Al-Rumayyan has revealed that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund's (PIF) 'efficiency level' has been 'really big' despite 95 per cent of the workforce operating remotely - as the Kingdom continues to make huge investments during the coronavirus crisis.

The PIF hope to acquire an 80% stake in Newcastle United - financier Amanda Staveley and the Reuben Brothers would divide the remaining 20% equally - if their bid gets the green light from the Premier League.

The organising body have been conducting their owners' and directors' test at a time when the PIF have been aggressively buying up stakes in a host of Western companies as Saudi Arabia continues its attempts to diversify its economy.

Last month, Al-Rumayyan took part in a Future Investment Initiative virtual event entitled 'beyond the crisis: technology to the rescue' alongside Larry Frink, the founder of BlackRock, and Tidjane Thiam, the Afrian Union special envoy on Covid-19.

The discussion was chaired by Dr Peter Diamandis, who asked Al-Rumayyan how technology has helped to 'lessen the blow' of operating during the pandemic.

"Larry was saying 99 per cent of his workforce is working remotely, which is fine," Al-Rumayyan said. "For us, at the PIF, I think it's about 95% or so are working remotely and the efficiency level is really big.

"Almost 90% of our people are using virtual meetings, one on one or different meetings, which is really unprecedented and the increase there is just amazing.

"But the problem is not all of the other sectors can do the same. Restaurants cannot do this, airlines cannot do this, cruise liners cannot do this. Many other sectors in the economy cannot.

"The use of technology is definitely helping us - I have no doubts in my mind - but is it working for everything? For Ecommerce and logistics, they're doing marvellously well but companies in transport are suffering from this pandemic.

"As I said earlier, in the shorter-term, we need to look at flattening the curve but we have to look at reopening the economies around the world - not only here."

There is no formal guidance on how long the owners' and directors' test will take but a number of objections have been raised. Documents have been sent to the Premier League, which claim to establish a link between Saudi Arabia's government and BeoutQ, a pirate pay television broadcaster.