Saudi sovereign-wealth fund goes on a ‘shopping spree’in the U.S market

NEW YORK, August 17: Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund has suddenly started investing large amount of money in the US stock market. Kingdom’s ‘Public Investment Fund’ (PIF), which is the sovereign wealth fund of the country which manages around $620 billion in assets, has suddenly decided to invest $7.5 billion in several leading blue-chip American companies.
Investment experts feel that the kingdom is diverting a small amount of the revenue it is generating from the high oil prices, so that it could ‘diversify its investments.’
According to the U.S. securities filings, PIF took minority stakes in 17 companies including Alphabet Inc., BlackRock Inc., Zoom Video, and Microsoft Corp. PIF appears to be in a hurry to spend some funds in the US market by purchasing stocks in some truly big, successful, and leading American business enterprises, such as JPMorgan, and Starbucks.
Agencies report that the market valuation of Saudi fund’s investment portfolio exceeded $40 billion at the end of the second quarter. Recently, PIF also led a consortium of companies that acquired the English Premier League football club Newcastle United, for $409 million.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund has adopted a simple two-pronged strategy. Its investing in the international market, but at the same time also investing locally in projects that are aimed to ‘help reduce Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil.’-Agencies