It is reported that the Public Investment Fund is seeking investment opportunities in various sectors such as aviation, oil and gas, and entertainment. Earlier this month, the fund acquired an 8.2 percent stake in Carnival Corporation which is affected by the coronavirus. With that, the company’s shares rose nearly 30 percent higher. Carnival Corporation is an international cruise line headquartered in Florida.

Public Investment Fund Managing Director Yassir Al Rumayyan, said at an online investment forum, “There will be economies up and running, we will see a lot of potential.” The fund manages assets worth more than $300 billion. Also, it has stakes in Uber and Lucid Motors, media reports said.

Public Investment Fund has acquired stakes worth $1 billion in four European oil companies. Currently, the market is depressed on the back of the pandemic and low oil prices. These major companies include Equinor, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Enir, media reports said.

A source told the media, “The Saudis have been buying every day almost for the past few weeks, specially since the share prices of many of these companies were in correction territory and dividend yields were very high. They’ve been buying on the basis that everything is much cheaper and that they are bullish on the long-term outlook for oil prices.”

That said, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund has allocated $45 billion to SoftBank’s Vision Fund which is worth $100 billion.

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The joint venture Jasara Program Management was established in 2017 to strengthen social infrastructure programmes through its management services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa. 

The Saudi wealth fund PIF will hold a 30 percent stake in Jasara from Aramco and 10 percent from Jacobs Engineering after the transaction is completed. With that, Aramco and Jacobs Engineering will own 20 percent and 40 percent respectively. 

The Saudi government had announced plans to modify Aramco from an oil giant into an industrial conglomerate in an effort to break the kingdom’s heavy dependence on oil sales. This was around the time Jasara was established.

A Russian media report said that Aramco is seeking a partnership with Russia’s Lukoil for two natural gas projects in Uzbekistan. Lukoil was also interested in partnering with the oil giant in international projects. Aramco is preparing for an initial public offering that was stalled in the recent past. 

Saudi wealth fund PIF has $300 million worth of estimated assets according to the Institute of International Finance. In May, PIF Managing Director Yasir al-Rumayyan said that Saudi’s wealth fund is planning to expand in China, with new offices in Asia. The fund has “deployed directly and indirectly more than $50 billion in the past two years in the US,” he said. 

PIF is planning to become a major global investor under Saudi’s Vision 2030 reform plan. By that date, it targets to control more than $2 trillion, a regional media report said.

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Lyft operates only in the US and Canada. Uber is present in 63 countries and more than 700 cities worldwide. In addition to a variety of ridesharing services for different target markets, Uber also operates Uber Eats and Uber Freight. Uber is estimated to have more than 100 million users globally.

Uber also has a better value proposition as a one-stop shop for transportation as it is present in different segments like bikes and scooters, logistics, and freight. Lyft is only present in scooters, bike sharing, and ride-hailing.

Since its IPO, Lyft’s shares have lost roughly 20 percent of their value due to concerns over profitability. Uber’s shares could face a similar challenge. The ride-hailing company had said that it may never become profitable when it unveiled its IPO plans.

For 2018, Uber had a loss of $1.8 billion on revenue of $11 billion.

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund holds roughly 4 percent in Uber. PIF is one of the largest shareholders in Uber. Saudi Arabia’ s investment in Uber is expected to be worth $3.4 billion at Uber’s IPO later this month.

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