Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund (PIF), increased its US-registered stock holdings to $43.4 billion in the third quarter of this year, acquiring shares in Alibaba Group, Wal-Mart, and Pinterest.
The Fund’s holdings had reached $16 billion at the end of the second quarter but jumped threefold because of the initial public offering of “Lucid” Automotive Company.
Excluding this offering, the Fund would have risen by approximately 11 percent to reach $17.7 billion, from $15.9 billion, by the end of September 2021.
The PIF is one of Lucid’s most notable investors, owning approximately 62.7 percent of the company’s shares, which has resulted in a large number of public flows in its favor.
North America, South America, India, Russia, and Europe are the countries where the Fund invests, with expectations that it will soon begin focusing on Chinese shares, owing to the fact that the Chinese technology sector has reached a point where its stocks are at appealing levels, as well as the tight Saudi-Chinese trade relationship.
Previously, the Fund concentrated on maximizing short-term profits, but, since the beginning of 2021, it has shifted its focus to long-term investments.
The Fund’s most significant investments in overseas enterprises are Lucid (62.7 percent), Uber ( 3.75 percent), Clariant (32.2 percent) and Carnival (5.1 percent).
The Fund is critical to the kingdom’s economic goals, mainly because it is reliant on foreign investment to generate cash flows and invest them in non-oil sectors in Saudi Arabia to diversify the economy.
By 2030, the Fund aims to invest 1.15 trillion riyals a year in domestic projects that contribute to the kingdom’s economic diversification vision.
