PIF megaproject ends two-year CEO search
The sovereign wealth fund-controlled developer ROSHN gets a new boss amid leadership churn at top Saudi firms.
Saudi Arabia's ROSHN Group has appointed its first full-time chief executive in over two years, ending a leadership vacuum that has plagued several companies under the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund. Naaman Atallah, currently president of real estate at UAE conglomerate Al-Futtaim, is expected to join the developer in the near future, according to sources familiar with the situation.
ROSHN confirmed Atallah's appointment. Before joining ROSHN, Atallah held senior positions at state-controlled developers in the region, including Dubai Properties in the UAE and Qatari Diar, the real estate arm of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. ROSHN had not had a permanent CEO since early 2024, when British executive David Grover was dismissed from the role amid allegations of conflicts of interest.
Grover denied the accusations and unsuccessfully sued the company for over $100 million in a Saudi court. Since then, executives from the Public Investment Fund (PIF) have served as acting CEOs at the company. The lengthy search for a permanent CEO, coupled with the numerous vacant leadership positions at prominent Saudi firms, underscores the difficulties faced by state-controlled entities as they strive to adhere to spending cuts while simultaneously pursuing the kingdom's economic transformation agenda.
ROSHN's protracted search, along with the prevalence of empty CEO appointments at top Saudi organizations, highlights the challenge of recruiting executives to steer state-controlled companies as they navigate the dual imperative of cost reduction and economic development.
Written by urgent.news from Semafor's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
