RIYADH: Moody’s Investors Service has assigned an A1 long term issuer rating to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, marking the agency’s first rating of the Saudi wealth fund.
“Achieving a credit rating is an important step for PIF as we continue to grow our investment portfolio and achieve our objectives,” Governor of PIF, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, commented.
The credit rating agency has also assigned an Aaa.sa long term issuer national scale rating and an A1 baseline credit assessment to the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, reflecting its strong fundamental credit strengths.
Fahad AlSaif, Head of #PIF’s Global Capital Finance Division, speaks about the Fund’s first-ever credit rating from international rating agencies @MoodysInvSvc and @FitchRatings.
The scorecard establishes the Fund as a strong Investment Grade credit. pic.twitter.com/CbGJfDHt4g
— Public Investment Fund (@PIF_en) February 7, 2022
Aligned with the Government of Saudi Arabia, PIF’s A1 issuer rating reflects its creditworthiness and the ‘very high’ level of interdependence between the Kingdom and PIF, according to Moody’s.
“Our rating is a significant achievement and a reflection of several factors, including our world-class governance, strong financial profile, and the diversity of our business and portfolio,” Al-Rumayyan said.
“This result will further enhance our access to international capital markets and continue to diversify our sources of funding which is in line with PIF’s strategy,” he added.
Opinion
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The outlook on all ratings is stable.
As one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, Saudi PIF is one of the main vehicles to grow the Kingdom’s non-oil economy and reduce its reliance on the hydrocarbon sector.
In line with Vision 2030, the fund has released its Vision Realization Program in 2018, entailing four pillars, namely growing the Fund’s assets, unlocking new sectors in the Kingdom, localizing cutting edge technology and knowledge and building strategic partnerships domestically and internationally.
