If you’ve been following the world of sports lately, then you’re probably familiar with the investments that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has been making there — from the purchase of Newcastle United to the high-profile LIV Golf tour. And that’s before getting into things like a planned resort situated on an oil platform. It’s left many people with an ethical conundrum of whether or not to partake in certain things that the Public Investment Fund has ties to.
And now, the Public Investment Fund just added to its interests in the automotive world. As Reuters reports (via Autoblog), the fund is set to take a 16.7% stake in Aston Martin. This will make the PIF the second-largest shareholder for the company, taking the spot previously held by Mercedes-Benz with a 9.7% stake.
This isn’t the Saudi fund’s first foray into owning an automaker. It’s also a partial owner of McLaren and Lucid Motors.
The Public Investment Fund’s investment in Aston Martin comes as the company announced a capital raising. The PIF contributed 78 million pounds (or around $92.5 million), plus what Reuters describes as “a 575 million pound rights issue.” The fund will also have two seats on the company’s board as a result of this investment.
According to the report, the company plans to use half of the capital it raised to pay off debt, a process that the economic conditions incurred by the pandemic and related issues slowed down. As for what effects the company’s new investor might have — or whether they’ll experience any backlash from it — that remains to be seen.
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