Saudi PIF secures largest corporate purpose loan of $17bn
RIYADH, December 1, 2022
Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund PIF (The Public Investment Fund) has secured a new $17 billion, seven-year senior unsecured term loan, which was self-arranged with 25 banks globally across Europe, the US, the Middle East and Asia.
Announcing the new loan, PIF said it represents the largest self-arranged term loan ever raised for general corporate purposes, supported by significant demand from an international syndicate.
This reflects a continuation of PIF’s strategy to diversify its sources of funding, helping to drive impactful investment in Saudi Arabia and internationally, it stated.
PIF pointed out that its existing $11 billion, five-year loan, arranged in 2018, will be repaid early.
The transaction, supported by a broad based, global syndicate of 25 financial institutions from Europe, the US, the Middle East and Asia, was more than twice oversubscribed.
PIF’s original $11 billion loan facility in 2018 saw 15 financial institutions participate. The new loan forms part of its medium-term capital raising strategy and its 2022 Annual Capital Raising Plan.
The plan includes several funding tools that would ensure PIF's continuous and sustainable access to diverse funding sources, including public and private, it added.
Fahad AlSaif, Head of Global Capital Finance Division at PIF, said: “This new facility is a strong endorsement of PIF’s medium-term capital raising strategy.”
"It is a significant achievement for PIF, raising a record-sized term facility in the longest tenor ever for a loan of its size that is subscribed to by an unprecedentedly diversified number of lenders. PIF will continue to explore a variety of debt funding sources as it delivers on its strategic objectives," he stated.
PIF received strong international credit ratings from both Moody’s and Fitch for the first time in February, underlining the creditworthiness of the Fund and the quality of its investment portfolio.
PIF, he said, has a well-established long-term financing strategy that is built around four sources of funding, ensuring its ability to finance activity over the long-term.
These sources include capital injections by the government, government asset transfers to PIF, retained earnings from investments, and loans and debt instruments, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
