Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
Lucid Motors Inc. is in talks with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to build an electric vehicle factory in the kingdom, the Financial Times he reported, citing an interview with the fund’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
Bloomberg reported earlier this month that Lucid is in talks with the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund to build a factory potentially near the Red Sea city of Jeddah. The company raised more than $ 1 billion from the PIF in 2018, an investment that was conditional on the firm developing a location in Saudi Arabia, according to people familiar with the matter.
The fund seeks to attract international companies to establish operations in the kingdom, the FT said. “It is already in discussion with several companies in the healthcare sector,” Al-Rumayyan told the newspaper, without giving further details.
The PIF is also in talks with “many” companies SoftBank’s vision fund, supported by Saudi Arabia. “The next step is to move forward to get them into the kingdom,” Al-Rumayyan said.
- The international exposure of the PIF will decrease by up to 20% of the assets managed over the next five years, from almost 30%.
- Saudi Arabia could consider trading more shares in Saudi Aramco “if the valuation is correct,” he said.
- The PIF will need additional injections of government cash. This will happen only when the central bank’s reserves are replenished.
- NOTE: Saudi Arabia eliminates the central banker and sets the goals of the wealth fund