PIF Tipled its US Stockholdings

Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) nearly tripled its holdings of the US-listed stocks to $43.45 billion, adding shares of Alibaba Group, Wal-Mart, and Pinterest, in the Q3.

PIF increased its stake almost from a total $16 billion, in the previous quarter, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Just Eat Takeaway.com and Ballard Power Systems, were among the other equities purchased by PIF.

The Public Investment Fund, which controls $430 billion in assets, is reshaping the Saudi economy landscape by establishing new industries and diversifying revenues sources, away from oil, and other hydrocarbons.

It has also got a 62.72% stake in Lucid, an electric car business with a market capitalization of $71 billion, and a considerable increase, in value, since September.

“The Q3 number is significantly higher than the second quarter, but the majority of the rise is due to Lucid Motors’ IPO, in July,” Diego Lopez, managing director of Global SWF, an industry statistics firm, commented.

If you exclude Lucid’s effect, US stock holdings climbed by only 11%, from $15.9 billion to $17.7 billion.

PIF, or tacitly the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, spent more than $1 billion on Lucid, in 2018 for a substantial stake, and invested more in February, received a hefty payout when the firm went public, in July.

PIF, has 3.75% of Uber, too.

The Public investment fund has a two-pronged or walking on two leges strategy: it builds a worldwide portfolio of assets, while also investing domestically, in projects that would help Saudi Arabia, reduce its oil dependency.

While the PIF approach has appeared to be focused on short-term returns, in 2020, we’ve seen a shift, in 2021, with only one investment pulled so far, Lopez added, adding that the focus is on private partnerships, since.

During the third quarter, the fund made around 19 new investments, in publicly traded firms, in the United States, with its $25.8 billion stake, in Lucid Group for Electric Vehicles, accounting for the majority of the fund’s investments.

New investment details

At the end of September, the fund had invested in as many as 32 companies, up from only 13, in June, almost double the digits.

By 2025, the Public Investment Fund wants to oversee more than $1.1 trillion, in assets, abroad.

The companies in which the fund has announced an investment or intent to, include Hyzon Motors Inc., Plug Power Inc., and Ballard Power Systems Inc., the latest, a designer and manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cells.

The firm also invested $400 million, in Cummins, intending to build one of the world’s largest factories for machines, that generate hydrogen from electricity, in Spain.

It has put $169 million into Shopify stock, $182 million into Pinterest, and $231 million into Walmart, in the e-commerce industry, too.

For its part, PIF also made new investments, in payment companies of Visa and PayPal.

During the third quarter, the Saudi Wealth Fund made investments, in two of China’s leading e-commerce companies, including shares in Bindudu and Alibaba Group.