Dubai, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’ Public Investment Fund revealed its annual report for the year 2022 on Sunday, claiming that assets under management (AUM) surpassed $594.43 billion (2.23 trillion Saudi riyal).
The sovereign wealth fund revealed that it established 25 companies, and generated a total shareholder’s return of 8% in 2022, and had further deployed 120 billion riyals locally in strategic sectors.
The sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reported that it had AUM of 1.98 trillion in 2021, which increased by 12.6% to 2.23 trillion riyals by the end of 2022.
While diving further deep into the different investment areas of the fund, the Public Investment Fund reported that 68% of its assets under management are local investments, while 23% of AUM is invested internationally, the rest being treasuries. It also reported that its majority of assets are managed internally i.e. 83%, whereas only 17% is managed externally.
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Importance of PIF
Public Investment Fund is the preferred vehicle of the kingdom’s Crown Prince and its de facto ruler, Muhammad Bin Salman, to drive the economy while reducing dependency on oil. The PIF funds itself from multiple sources like capital injections from the government, retained earnings, debt instruments, and assets that are transferred to the fund by the government.
The fund had recently raised $5.5 billion from the green bond issue in February, following its inaugural green bond sale of $3 billion in October last year. In addition to that,it secured a $17 billion loan in November 2022 from a consortium of 25 banks that will partially refinance a loan dating back to 2018.
In February last year, the Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman announced the transfer of 4% of Aramco’s share, worth $80 billion, to the PIF’s account. Followed by a second transfer of another 4% in Saudi Aramco’s share in April 2022, to the Sanabil Investments – a subsidiary of PIF.
The PIF, while unveiling its future plans, said that it is currently expanding three of its subsidiaries; in London, New York, and Hong Kong, which would ensure the continuous growth of the fund and will position it as the “partner of choice for investors globally”.
($1 = 3.7515 Saudi riyals).
