Saudi sovereign fund buys minority stakes in Citi, Boeing, Facebook

DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has bought minority stakes in major American companies including Boeing (BA.N), Facebook (FB.O) and Citigroup (C.N), according to a U.S. regulatory filing.

The $300 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF) has been buying minority stakes in companies across the world, taking advantage of market weakness in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

The PIF disclosed stakes worth $713.7 million in Boeing, ABOUT $522 million in Citigroup, $522 million in Facebook, $495.8 million in Disney (DIS.N) and $487.6 million in Bank of America (BAC.N), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing bit.ly/3e2A01B on Friday showed.

The PIF has a nearly $514 million stake in Marriott (MAR.O) and a small stake in Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), according to the filing. The PIF also disclosed an $827.7 million stake in oil company BP (BP.L), which has American Depository Receipts (ADRs) listed in the United States.

The sovereign wealth fund was not immediately available to comment.

Last month its head, Yasir al-Rumayyan, said the fund was looking into investment opportunities in areas such as aviation, oil and gas, and entertainment, adding that there would be a lot of potential for investment opportunities once the coronavirus crisis passes.

ENERGY GIANTS

The PIF disclosed an 8.2% stake in coronavirus-hit Carnival Corp (CCL.N) in April, sending the cruise operator’s shares nearly 30% higher.

The Saudi fund bought stakes in Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), Total (TOTF.PA), Eni (ENI.MI) and Equinor (EQNR.OL) earlier this year , a source familiar with the transactions told Reuters on April 9.

The SEC filing on Friday showed it had a $483.6 million stake in Shell, a $222.3 million holding in Total and a $481 million stake in Suncor Energy (SU.TO).

An earlier filing in Norway had shown the PIF had a 0.3% stake in oil and gas firm Equinor.

PIF already has a $2 billion stake in Uber Technologies (UBER.N) and electric car company Lucid Motors. It used to own a small stake in electric carmaker Tesla (TSLA.O), but the latest filing did not show any exposure.