The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that on Wednesday, Brookfield Asset signed a non-binding memorandum that would make Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, an anchor investor for a new, $2-billion private-equity fund Brookfield is launching to invest in the Middle East (all figures U.S.). The Globe's James Bradshaw writes that the new fund aims to make at least half its investments in Saudi Arabia and the rest in Persian Gulf economies. As Brookfield looks to more than double the size of its private-equity business over five years, the company has turned increasingly to the Middle East as a source of investment capital. Its Brookfield Renewable unit has been active, raising and investing its first, $15-billion, fund focused on the global energy transition in two years, starting in 2021. By early this year, it had raised the first $10-billion of a second global transition fund that is expected to be meaningfully larger than the first. It has also kicked off fundraising for a Catalytic Transition Fund that aims to invest $5-billion in clean energy in emerging economies, anchored by a $1-billion commitment from Alterra, a climate fund controlled by the United Arab Emirates.