KKR enters Saudi Arabia with private credit deal for Acwa Power

KKR is providing private credit financing to a desalination plant in Saudi Arabia, marking its first foray into the kingdom.

The financing will support a facility majority owned by Acwa Power, a Saudi utility company backed by the Public Investment Fund.

Acwa Power is largely responsible for delivering water to the Mecca region.

KKR has invested about US$2 billion in the Middle East over the past ten months, including a stake in Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s gas pipeline network and one of the largest Gulf data center firms.

Earlier this year, the firm agreed to invest US$220 million in a regional provider of data, analytics, and risk management solutions for quantitative investing.

KKR’s debut in Saudi Arabia comes as foreign institutions increase transactions in the region, partly due to diminishing returns in other markets.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

KKR’s ACWA Power deal reveals Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure financing gap as banks pull back

Vision 2030, the kingdom’s long-term diversification plan, maps about $800 billion across 23 giga and megaprojects 1.
Bank loan volumes fell 12% in the Middle East in 2025, while Middle East and Africa fell 30–40%, pushing borrowers toward private credit 2.
Private credit in Saudi Arabia totals about $3.7 billion, which the Capital Market Authority (CMA) chair called ‘almost insignificant’ 3.
ACWA Power raised $3.4 billion in senior debt for two power projects through bank syndicates including Export-Import Bank of Korea and Saudi National Bank, which suggests the KKR deal may broaden capital sources 4.

Infrastructure operators and financial technology platforms can win deals as non-bank lending grows in the Gulf

In 2025, ACWA Power signed $10 billion of financings, with $6 billion for Saudi projects private credit could complement 5.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) jurisdictions include Saudi Arabia, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) plus Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and allow private credit funds, which sets up the region as an alternative finance hub 2.
Technology vendors with data or analytics or risk tools for project lending can pitch sponsors such as ACWA Power, which has multibillion-dollar agreements across renewables and storage 5.
Gulf sovereign wealth funds and family offices (firms that manage wealth for one or several affluent families) raised private credit allocations from negligible in 2021 to 2% by 2025, which creates openings for fintech service providers to set up co-investments 3.