The Public Investment Fund is seeking to raise debt over the coming months as part of a sustained effort to boost its firepower and help support the oil-rich kingdom's ambitious economic transformation plans.
An employee looks out from the 32nd floor viewing platform of the Al Faisaliah Tower, as skyscrapers and commercial buildings stand beyond, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016.'s sovereign wealth fund is planning to tap the debt market twice this year, after an overwhelmingly positive response from international investors.
"We asked for $8 billion syndicate loan and we got an amazing response from the markets. We got like $24 … That was sometime last year. This year, we will do at least two debt raises," Yasir Bin Othman Al-Rumayyan, CEO of Saudi Arabia's PIF, told CNBC'sWhen asked how much he was expecting the fund to raise over the coming months, Al-Rumayyan said: "I think it's going to be in the neighborhood of like 14 billion Saudi real and for the U.S.
The first-ever debt issuance from Aramco sparked massive global interest, with the move offering investors greater visibility into the financial performance of the world's most profitable company.