On 24 August 2026, France and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding for three theme parks near Cergy-Pontoise, led by Qiddiya: €6 billion and 22,000 jobs announced.
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In a post published on 25 August 2026 on our Instagram account @lucretia_immobilier, our team looked back at a major announcement: the day before, on 24 August 2026, France and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding to create three theme parks near Cergy-Pontoise, in the Val-d'Oise, west of Paris. The project, valued at €6 billion, is led by Qiddiya Investment Company, a subsidiary of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, and targets 22,000 direct jobs. Beyond the event itself, our video read pointed to an underlying shift: Gulf capital is now settling in Europe for the long term.
@lucretia_immobilier · 25 August 2026
Saudi Arabia has just invested €6 billion in France. 🇫🇷🇸🇦 3 theme parks in Cergy-Pontoise, 22,000 jobs, led by Qiddiya, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. The biggest leisure project since Disneyland Paris. But the real story lies elsewhere. For 20 years, it was Europe investing in the Gulf. Today, it's the opposite: Gulf money is coming to us. And this is only the beginning. The economic centre of gravity is shifting. Dubai has become the world's leading destination for high-net-worth individuals to settle. While other capitals hesitate, here we build, we attract, we accelerate. The real question: are you watching this shift, or are you part of it? 👇 📩 Investing in Dubai is my job. Write to me. #SofianeInvest #ImmobilierDubai #InvestirADubai #Dubai #Qiddiya
The essentials
- On 24 August 2026, France and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding to create three theme parks near Cergy-Pontoise, in the Val-d'Oise.
- The project, valued at €6 billion, is led by Qiddiya Investment Company, a subsidiary of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.
- The complex is expected to generate 22,000 direct jobs, and one of the parks will be devoted to the world of manga, with a project built around Dragon Ball.
- The announcement falls under the Choose France attractiveness scheme, highlighted by President Emmanuel Macron on 24 August 2026.
- The Disneyland Paris site has accounted for more than €13 billion of cumulative investment since it opened in 1992, a benchmark cited to gauge the scale of the new project.
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A strong signal for western Paris
The memorandum signed on 24 August 2026 makes this complex the most ambitious leisure project in the Paris region since Disneyland Paris opened in 1992. In practical terms, private investment on this scale acts as a territorial accelerator: it draws in transport infrastructure, hotel programmes, retail and housing for employees and visitors. Cergy-Pontoise and the wider Val-d'Oise, long off the main radar of wealth investors, gain new international visibility here.
To put the scale in perspective: with €6 billion announced and 22,000 direct jobs, the project creates a lasting economic hub. One of the three parks will be devoted to the world of manga, built around Dragon Ball, while the two other themes were still to be confirmed at the time of the announcement. A destination hub of this kind reshapes the residential appeal of an area over a decade, as construction advances.
Gulf capital is settling in Europe
What our 25 August post underlined goes beyond the leisure park alone. For years, it was European capital flowing towards the Gulf; today the movement is reversing, and the region's sovereign wealth funds are investing directly in France and Europe. Qiddiya's involvement, an investment arm linked to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, illustrates that shift.
This turnaround is part of a broader rebalancing. Dubai, in particular, has become one of the world's leading destinations for high-net-worth individuals to settle, fuelling a two-way dynamic between Gulf markets and major European cities. Understanding where capital is moving is already a way of anticipating where value will be created. To grasp the French capital's place in this reshaping, we detail the fundamentals in our guide to investing in Paris.
What it changes for investors
For an investor, an announcement of this scale is not an immediate buy signal but a marker of direction. A complex worth €6 billion with 22,000 jobs gradually transforms an area's rental and residential demand: employee housing, tourist accommodation, services. The effects unfold over several years, in step with permits, construction and transport links. We remain attentive to the project's actual timeline before drawing any conclusions about prices in one part of the Val-d'Oise or another.
Our reading is twofold. In Paris and the Île-de-France, real estate remains a core asset whose value rests on scarcity, location and legal soundness far more than on any announcement effect; that is exactly the focus of our support when we help clients invest in Paris. In parallel, this kind of deal confirms the growing weight of Gulf capital, an environment we know closely from Dubai.
At Lucretia, we help every investor separate the signal from the noise: identifying structural capital movements, measuring their real impact on a market, and building a coherent strategy between Paris and the Emirates. As each situation calls for its own wealth and tax analysis, we favour tailored support over a one-size-fits-all recipe.
Source: Original post on Instagram (@lucretia_immobilier) — 25 August 2026
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About the author
Léonard ARZOUNI
Real Estate Consultant
Léonard is a luxury real estate consultant with more than six years of experience in the high-end market. He is fluent in French and English and assists an international clientele in the acquisition and management of exceptional properties, both residential and investment-oriented. His expertise covers property valuation, portfolio management and strategic negotiation, enabling him to develop tailor-made solutions adapted to each client's wealth objectives. He is appreciated for his rigour and attention to detail. Outside of work, Léonard is passionate about contemporary art, collecting works by emerging artists. He is a curious traveller who loves discovering new cultures.
