Saudi PIF supports taking Tesla private, says Elon Musk

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk on Monday said that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund had approached the electric car company with an offer to help take it private.

"Going back almost two years, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund has approached me multiple times about taking Tesla private," Musk said in a blog post published on Monday, referring to the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

After the PIF recently bought a nearly 5 percent stake in Tesla, the Saudi fund requested another meeting, which then took place on July 31, Musk said.

"During the meeting, the managing director of the fund expressed regret that I had not moved forward previously on a going private transaction with them, and he strongly expressed his support for funding a going private transaction for Tesla at this time,” the Tesla chief said.

He added: "I understood from him that no other decision makers were needed and that they were eager to proceed. I left the July 31st meeting with no question that a deal with the Saudi sovereign fund could be closed."

According to the post, Musk is continuing discussions with the Saudi fund and with a number of other investors.

“It is appropriate to complete those discussions before presenting a detailed proposal to an independent board committee."

The Tesla CEO added that full details of the plan to go private will be revealed in due course, including the proposed nature and source of the funding to be used.

“However, it would be premature to do so now," Musk said.

In a tweet later on Monday, Musk said he is working with Silver Lake and Goldman Sachs as financial advisors, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Munger, Tolles & Olson as legal advisors on potentially taking the company private.

Last week, the Financial Times reported that Public Investment Fund, the Kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, had acquired an undisclosed stake of between 3 and 5 percent this year, worth $1.7 billion and $2.9 billion.

Following the news, Musk said in a tweet that he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 a share and funding for it was “secured."

The tweet has led to investor lawsuits and an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission into the accuracy of his statement.