Saudi Arabia's cabinet approves 'framework' of Public Investment Fund

The kingdom's sovereign wealth fund manages about $300 billion assets

Yasir Rumayyan is now chairman of Saudi Aramco as well as mining company Ma'aden. Pawan Singh / The National

Saudi Arabia's cabinet "approved the framework" of the Public Investment Fund on Tuesday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said. No further details were provided and fund officials weren't immediately reachable for comment.

The kingdom's sovereign wealth fund has about $300 billion (Dh1.1 trillion) in assets under management. PIF aims to increase its portfolio of assets to $2tn by 2030 as it aggressively invests in both domestic and international markets.

The fund has historically invested in the domestic market on behalf of the Saudi government, but expanded its international investments to 10 per cent of its total asset base in the past four years, up from about 1 per cent, its managing director Yasir Al Rumayyan said last year.

PIF, which holds stakes in the US ride-hailing company Uber and electric car makers Tesla and Lucid, in the medium-term aims to achieve a 25 and 75 per cent balance between international and domestic assets in its portfolio, and by 2030 aims to have a 50-50 split between the two.

PIF is an anchor investor in SoftBank's $100bn Vision Fund with a $45bn contribution. The fund also agreed to tie up with investment company Blackstone in 2017 for a new venture designed to invest more than $100bn in US infrastructure assets.

PIF will commit $20bn to the venture, which is expected to have $40bn in total equity commitments in a permanent capital vehicle.