Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), saw its assets under management swell to 2.23 trillion riyals ($603 billion) in 2022, up from 1.98 trillion riyals the previous year. The increase was primarily driven by domestic investments rather than international ones.
Yet the fund's ambitious growth targets mean global dealmakers and asset managers cannot ignore Riyadh.
The PIF's net return in 2022 was a more modest 8%, compared to the private equity-esque 25% notched in 2021. Nonetheless, total assets rose 13%, helped in part by the transfer of a 4% stake in Saudi Aramco, the $2 trillion state energy giant.
The fund, chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also increased investments in large-scale domestic projects like the futuristic city Neom, which nearly quadrupled in value.
Meanwhile, the PIF's international assets, ranging from UK football club Newcastle United to struggling electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors, shrank from 576 billion to 512 billion riyals. They now comprise just 23% of the total, down from 29% last year.
