Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has agreed to initial terms for a $10 billion loan, the second time the fund has sought to raise money in less than a year, the Financial Times reports.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole and Citigroup are among the 10 banks that have committed to provide the short-term loan, the FT reports. “The loan is expected to be paid back towards the end of the year when Saudi Aramco makes the first payment to the fund of the $69bn it is paying the PIF for its majority stake in local petrochemicals group Sabic,” the London-based newspaper reports.
HSBC, JPMorgan, Mizuho, MUFG, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui are the other banks participating, sources told the FT.
The Kingdom aims to make the PIF the largest investment fund in the world. The PIF is considered the engine behind economic diversity in Saudi Arabia, while helping to develop high focus strategic sectors.
The PIF considers the United States a top target for its investments, according to comments made by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF’s Managing Director and board member in May.
“The U.S. is our No. 1 target of investments. Most innovation happens in U.S. We have deployed directly and indirectly more than $50 billion in the past two years in the U.S. So that’s a big demonstration to the interest that we have here.”
