PensionsAugust 9, 2023

Saudi Arabia’s PIF Reports $16.5B Loss in 2022

Despite the loss, the fund’s AUM grew to approximately $595 billion thanks to a 4% share transfer from Saudi Aramco.

Reported by Michael Katz

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund swung to a loss in 2022, losing 58.55 billion Saudi riyals ($15.6 billion), according to its recently released 2022 annual report.

The sovereign wealth fund mainly attributed the loss to unrealized returns on its investments in the Softbank Vision Fund, a SoftBank Group-led venture capital fund, as well as to other investment losses resulting from the market downturn, particularly in the tech sector.

Despite the loss, the Public Investment Fund’s assets under management grew to 2.234 trillion riyals, or approximately $595 billion, from 1.980 trillion riyals in 2021. The fund attributed the increase to a 4% share transfer (worth 296 billion riyals) from the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., also known as Saudi Aramco.

Although the fund omitted its annual return figure from the report, it cited its total shareholder return as 8% per year since September 30, 2017, when it launched its Vision Realization Program.

The fund’s largest asset allocation was to Saudi equity holdings, which accounted for 32% of the portfolio’s AUM, up from 24% in 2021. Saudi sector development investments accounted for 21% of the portfolio, up from 16% the previous year. International strategic investments made up 10% of the assets, down from 20% one year earlier, while Treasury investments accounted for 9% of the assets, also down from 20% in 2021.

Saudi real estate and infrastructure development also accounted for 9% of the asset allocation, the same as one year earlier, while its international capital markets program comprised 8% of the portfolio, up from 6% in 2021. Approximately 5% was made up of Saudi giga projects, up from 2%, and 3% went to an international diversified pool, the same percentage as in the previous year. The fund noted that totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding.