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(Bloomberg) – Saudi Arabia’s $325 billion sovereign wealth fund continued to buy U.S. shares while searching for opportunities in the economic rubble of the coronavirus crisis, but largely left the top-tier positions it bought in the first quarter.
The Public Investment Fund, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, disclosed $10.1 billion in holdings at the end of the quarter, according to a regulatory record. This included assets in the negotiated publicly traded budget similar to the utility and textile sectors. You also participate in Suncor Energy Inc. and Carnival Corp.
PIF’s investment crusade has allowed it to invest in some of the world’s largest corporations since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with approximately $8 billion in stakes in corporations such as BP Plc, Boeing Co., Citigroup Inc. and Facebook Inc. Marriott International Inc., Walt Disney Co., Total and Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
The industry comes at a time when the world’s largest crude oil exporter is facing fiscal tensions following a collapse of global oil markets.
The kingdom transferred about $40 billion to its central bank PIF in March and April to develop its monetary firepower for transactions that represented big bets that things would generally return to the general sooner or later as the world recovered from the pandemic impact.
Looking for bargains
Behind the scenes, as coronavirus outbreaks disrupted the industry and pushed inventory costs to their lowest point in years, the fund asked staff to locate bargains to expand their global portfolio, others close to the plan said. The fund, which until five years ago was a holding company of government stakes in domestic companies, saw the crisis as an opportunity for its foreign assets, other people said.
PIF also ended a series of primary transactions this year, adding a $1.5 billion investment in Jio Platforms Ltd., the virtual and telecommunications company controlled through Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani. The fund would be among investors who have acquired a $14 billion stake in BlackRock Inc. In June, it reached a $70 billion deal to sell its stake in chemical manufacturer Saudi Basic Industries Corp. to Saudi Aramco.
The fund’s mandate was expanded in 2015 to incorporate foreign investment into economic diversification and reshape it from an inactive national corporate holding company to one of the world’s largest investors. A key detail of Prince Mohammed’s strategy is to weed the Saudi oil economy, which still accounts for the majority of government revenue.
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