A new company owned by Saudi Arabia's largest state-run pension fund will invest in local and foreign stock markets and develop real estate projects, the cabinet said on Monday.

The setting up of Hassana Investment Company, owned by the General Organisation for Social Insurance (Gosi), was approved on Monday at a cabinet meeting chaired by King Abdullah, state news agency SPA said, quoting a cabinet statement.

The firm will lead the development of real estate, commercial and services projects, and will also be allowed to sell the projects, it said.

It will also "invest for its own account and for the account of Gosi in financial instruments by buying and selling in local, regional and international stock markets," it added. - Reuters