Dubai, London: Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is weighing a loan of as much as $3 billion (Dh11.01 billion) for its investment in Uber Technologies Inc, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The Public Investment Fund has held preliminary talks with local and international banks about borrowing between $2 billion and $3 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified as the plans are private. Talks are at an early stage and the PIF, as the Saudi fund is known, hasn’t yet decided whether to proceed with the loan, the people said.
The PIF said in a statement on Friday that it’s not considering a loan and its investment in Uber wasn’t funded by a loan or any other form of borrowing.
The PIF is investing $3.5 billion in the ride-sharing service in its highest-profile overseas investment to date. The deal, announced on Wednesday, gives fund managing director Yasir Al Rumayyan a board seat at the San Francisco-based company and is also the biggest investment in Uber to date. The fund aims to boost its share of overseas holdings to about half by 2020, from 5 per cent now.
