Saudi PIF to Sell $1 Billion Shares of Telecom Firm for Cash – BNN Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is selling some of its stake in the kingdom’s main mobile phone operator as it tries to raise cash for the government’s trillion-dollar economic transformation plan.

The Public Investment Fund plans to sell 100 million shares, or a 2% stake, of Saudi Telecom Co., according to a statement on Wednesday. According to the company’s last closing price, the share is worth approximately $1 billion.

PIF will remain the largest shareholder of STC after the sale, with a 62% share.

The fund is the main organization tasked with running Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 program, an initiative aimed at diversifying the oil-dependent economy. The company was considering stock offerings in its portfolio companies as part of its effort to raise cash, Bloomberg News previously reported.

Besides Saudi Telecom, the wealth fund has investments in companies in various sectors, from Saudi Electricity and utilities company Acwa Power to stock market operator Saudi Tadawul Group Holding. The company also owns a majority stake in $52 billion commodities company Saudi Arabian Mining, as well as holdings in lenders such as Saudi National Bank, Riyadh Bank and Alinma.

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The latest deal comes months after the Saudi government sold part of its stake in oil giant Aramco for about $12.4 billion. Although PIF has previously sold some of its shares on the kingdom’s stock exchange, secondary offerings are rare in the region.

It also raised $3.2 billion in 2021 by selling some of its shares in Saudi Telecom. In the months before the sale, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said PIF should not hold on to its investments in local firms “indefinitely”.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and SNB Capital are joint global coordinators and bookrunners on the mobile phone operator’s share sale.

(Updated with details)

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