The Saudi Arabian Sovereign Wealth Fund (PIF) is exploring additional ways to raise capital from companies within its portfolio, according to Reuters sources. They indicate that PIF wants to achieve this without injecting its own funds.
The agency reports that one of the options PIF is considering is the sale of stakes in "mature" teams, especially those whose shares are traded on the stock exchange. Additionally, the Saudi fund is reportedly not ruling out the securitization of cash flows from its owned assets—meaning the issuance of securities such as bonds based on future business revenues and selling them to investors.
It is suggested that the liquidity crunch in Saudi Arabian banks and the slowdown in IPO market activity may have prompted PIF to consider this step.
Notably, in early November, PIF sold 49% of AI company Humain's shares to oil giant Saudi Aramco. There are also rumors that the Saudi fund is contemplating the sale of a minority stake in the Newcastle United football club.
At the same time, PIF is increasing its investments in game development—recently, Reuters reported the fund's interest, in collaboration with Silver Lake, to acquire Unity, and Chinese authorities have approved a deal for the fund's subsidiary, Savvy Games Group, to purchase Moonton. It is currently unknown whether PIF's current plans might affect its gaming assets.