Arabian Centres Appoints Fawaz Goth as Chief Development Officer, Abdulmajid Albasri as Chief Financial Officer

 Arabian Centres Company (ACC), the leading owner, developer and operator of lifestyle shopping centres in Saudi Arabia, has announced the appointment of Fawaz Goth as the Company’s new Chief Development Officer (CDO). In this role, Mr. Goth will be responsible for supervising the implementation of ACC's ongoing development strategy, with a focus on upcoming development projects. The Company will also be appointing Mr. Abdulmajid Albasri to the post of Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Albasri will assume his new post in mid-April. 

“We are pleased to welcome Fawaz Goth and Abdulmajid Albasri as the latest members of the management team at Arabian Centres,” said Olivier Nougarou, Chief Executive Officer of Arabian Centres. “Their appointments clearly demonstrate ACC’s solid commitment to the objectives of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, as we consistently seek to encourage and develop the next generation of Saudi business leaders.”

“Fawaz joins ACC with a depth of development experience in a broad array of real-estate market segments, including the residential, commercial, mixed-use and healthcare spaces, and also brings a vast experience in leisure and entertainment,” said Nougarou. “Abdulmajid brings a multifaceted skillset and enjoys deep experience with treasury and capital markets. He has shown exceptional leadership as senior adviser and Group Treasurer at the Fawaz Al Hokair Group. With these two additions to the team, we have added competencies which will greatly aid Arabian Centres’ efforts to reinvent the Saudi shopper’s retail experience and maintain ACC’s locations as the market’s premier destinations,” he concluded.  

Mr. Goth previously held positions at leading Dubai real estate developers Meraas and Nakheel, successfully leading the development of such Dubai landmarks as the Coca Cola Arena, the Green Planet and Hub Zero at City Walk, Laguna Waterpark at LaMer, Dubai Parks and Resorts’ outlet village, the Jumeirah Park residential community, as well as Club Vista Mare and Azure Residences at The Palm Jumeirah. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Sharjah and an Executive Master’s in Business Administration from the American University of Sharjah. 

Mr. Albasri previously held the position of Group Treasurer at the Fawaz Al Hokair Group, with responsibility for cash and liquidity management, mergers and acquisitions and driving the Group’s transactions on international capital markets, including the issuance of bonds and Sukuks and initial public offerings. Prior to this role, Mr. Albasri served as Group Treasurer at Almarai, the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy company and the MENA region’s largest food and beverage manufacturing and distribution company. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds an MSc in Applied Mathematics and an MA in Economics from the University of Connecticut. 

Arabian Centres’ renewed commitment to its strategic vision of leveraging the growth in Saudi Arabia’s leisure and entertainment space follows on the Company’s successful flotation of a fixed-rate, US dollar-denominated Sukuk, which was accompanied by an inaugural Issuer Rating of BB+ from Fitch Rating Agency and Ba1 from Moody’s. The issue was four times oversubscribed and drew heavy international interest, with non-GCC investors accounting for 84% of the total transaction allocation. The strength and depth of the book demonstrated global investors’ strong appetite for exposure to the Saudi market and confidence in ACC’s distinctive lifestyle offering. 

Under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has sought to diversify its economy and decrease its reliance on oil-related revenues. The Kingdom has allocated significant resources to the development of various economic sectors with growth potential. Key to this strategy has been the introduction of an extensive leisure and entertainment sector under the supervision of a newly established Saudi General Entertainment Authority. 

Investments in leisure and entertainment facilities form a core component of ACC’s medium-term pipeline, which will see billions invested in the development of new entertainment, shopping and lifestyle destinations across the Kingdom. Such investments conform with ACC’s long-term strategy of offering investors unparalleled exposure to a significant share of Saudi Arabia’s entertainment, shopping, and lifestyle sectors.