Saudi Arabias PIF could see big profit on Uber stake, FII forum hears

RIYADH - The Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, is potentially looking at a windfall profit on its investment in Uber Technologies, the American ride-hailing company, it emerged at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.

Lubna Olayan, head of the Olayan Group conglomerate, highlighted a potential doubling in the value of PIF’s stake in Uber if the San Francisco firm goes ahead with an initial public offering next year.

Speaking on a panel entitled “Can global investment inspire a collective vision of the future,” she remarked that PIF first invested $3.5 billion in Uber in 2016 when it was valued at approximately $60 billion.

“Now the forecast valuations for the IPO are around $120 billion. Congratulations,” she said to Yasir Al-Rumayyan, managing director of PIF.

Al-Rumayyan replied: “Uber is creating lots of jobs in Saudi Arabia and making life easier for drivers, customers and shareholders.”

PIF’s profit on any Uber IPO could be even bigger, because the Saudi organization is a major investor in the SoftBank Vision Fund, which is also holds a sizeable chunk of Uber shares from a later round of fundraising.

Al-Rumayyan told the forum that PIF’s holdings are on track to be valued at $400 billion by 2020, and $2 trillion by 2030. By then, he said, PIF’s portfolio would be split 50-50 between domestic and global investments. About 10 percent of PIF’s funds are currently invested outside Saudi Arabia.

Al-Rumayyan said it was not true that all of PIF’s investments went into high-tech assets, pointing to its 50 percent stake of a $40 billion infrastructure fund in partnership with US group Blackstone, and the hotel chain Accor.

In Saudi Arabia, PIF wants to broaden its investment in the economy, especially in the tourism and entertainment sectors. “We did not have these interests before and we want to enhance these sectors,” Al-Rumayyan said.