PIF’s helicopter company THC looks to tempt investors

• Aims to be ‘sexy enough for investors’
• THC has 70 helicopters and 15 bases
• Pitching at PIF Private Sector Forum

The Helicopter Company, a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund, will consider listing in the future even though it is under no pressure to seek external funding, its CEO Captain Arnaud Martinez has said.

THC, which is wholly owned by the $1 trillion wealth fund, was founded in 2019 and now has 70 helicopters serving 15 bases across Saudi Arabia. 

In 2024 the company signed a framework agreement with Airbus to buy up to 120 helicopters. It added 28 in 2025 and Martinez expects a further 15 this year.

“There is a clear target to be in a position to be sexy enough for private investors at some stage,” Martinez told AGBI on the sidelines of the PIF Private Sector Forum in Riyadh. 

“We need to grow the business and, at some stage, when you reach KPIs for financial, governance, compliance and reporting, there is always a moment when you try to open the company to the private sector to invest,” he said.

“That’s always been the objective of the PIF portfolio companies.”

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THC secured a SAR800 million ($231 million) murabaha facility from Gulf International Bank Saudi Arabia in November 2023 to fund aircraft acquisitions, infrastructure development and both short and long-term financing needs.

This was supplemented in July 2025 with a SAR600 million Islamic credit facility from Arab National Bank, structured over eight years.

THC’s services cover emergency medical flights, entertainment events, private charters and tourism.

It is one of 120 PIF portfolio companies pitching opportunities to investors and suppliers at the private sector forum, which is expected to yield more than 100 memorandums of understanding. 

THC acquired global helicopter dealership Rotortrade in May 2023. 

In November 2025 it entered the offshore services sector with a 76 percent majority stake in Heliconia, an African rotary-wing aviation services operator.

“We are not here to acquire for acquiring’s sake,” said Martinez. “We want to grow by matching the needs of the Saudi Vision.”