Saudi PIF to boost foreign investments gradually, says MD

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) plans to gradually boost its international investments, managing director Yasir al-Rumayyan said in an investment conference on Saturday, held on the sidelines of US President Trump’s ongoing Saudi visit.

PIF’s total assets amount to $183 billion, of which more than 90 percent are stakes in semi-governmental Saudi companies, he said.

As part of plans to expand overseas investments, the fund will invest in some foreign portfolios and in the fixed income market, while locally, it will focus on industry development projects under Saudi Arabia’s fiscal reform plans, Al-Rumayyan added.

PIF has been involved in several large-scale investments over the past year, as the Kingdom seeks to increase the fund’s power under its Vision 2030 initiative.

The sovereign fund agreed with Japan’s SoftBank Group last October to set up a $100 billion technology investment fund, known as the Vision Fund.

PIF plans to be the largest investor in the Vision Fund with an investment of $45 billion over the next five years.

The Saudi fund also invested $3.5 billion in ride-hailing service Uber in June 2016. The investment was part of a financing round that valued the company at $62.5 billion.