Saudi Arabia 'sPublic Investment Fund , which is among the largest in the world, seeks to raise $7 billion in loans for new investments,Bloomberg reported.- This would be the third time the
sovereign wealth fund has tapped international banks for cash. - The fund seeks to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy away from its dependence on oil by switching up its investment priorities.
- Earlier this year,
PIF ditched its stake in some of the world's biggest companies to focus more on ETFs.
Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund plans to raise $7 billion as it seeks new investments to shore up its finances against the collapse in demand for crude oil this year, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
The kingdom's $347 billion fund, known as the Public Investment Fund, has sought the participation of international banks in a US dollar revolving credit facility of between $5 billion to $7 billion, the news agency said, citing sources.
PIF's fundraising, which would be the third round from foreign banks, is meant to be completed by early 2021. Saudi's first loan raised $11 billion in 2018.
The final loan size will be decided depending on the banks' responses, Bloomberg said.
PIF, which aims to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy away from oil, was given $40 billion this year to buy global stocks and to capitalize on the coronavirus sell-off.
Billions were spent to grow its US stock portfolio by pumping investments into Boeing, Disney, and Facebook. But the fund ditched its shares in those companies by August to focus more on exchange-traded funds, which are a low-cost basket of stocks and other securities that increase diversification.
PIF did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.