Saudi Wealth Fund Seeks Up to $7 Billion Loan for New Deals
Saudi Wealth Fund Seeks Up to $7 Billion Loan for Investments
(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund plans to raise as much as $7 billion in loans as it seeks cash for new investments, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Public Investment Fund has approached international banks to participate in a U.S. dollar revolving facility of between $5 billion and $7 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. The PIF aims to complete the fundraising early next year and use the cash for opportunistic investments, they said.
The $347 billion sovereign investor is a key lever for the kingdom’s efforts to revive growth after what may be the deepest recession the world’s largest crude exporter has experienced since 1987. Handed $40 billion earlier this year to buy global stocks, the PIF plans to plow the same amount into the domestic economy next year and again in 2022.
The loan would be the third time PIF has tapped international banks for funding. Its debut loan raised $11 billion in 2018, while it repaid a $10 billion bridge loan in August, two months ahead of schedule.
The final size of the loan will depend on the response from banks, the people said. The fund didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Under the leadership of Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the fund has shifted investment priorities over the past five years away from holdings in state-owned companies to building up stakes in Uber Technologies Inc. and Jio Platforms Ltd., the digital services business controlled by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani.
It also spent billions of dollars buying shares in companies including Facebook Inc., Citigroup Inc., and Walt Disney Co. in March at the height of the pandemic-driven sell-off. As markets rebounded, it largely exited those positions and bought into exchange-traded funds focused on utilities and materials sectors.
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