DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has transferred four percent of Saudi Aramco shares worth $80 billion to the sovereign wealth fund, the government said on Sunday.

The shares will bolster the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) strong financial position and high credit ratings in the medium term, the crown prince said in a statement. The fund is the prince’s vehicle of choice to transform the Saudi economy and diversify away from oil revenues.

The state remains the largest shareholder in Saudi Aramco after the transfer process, as it retains more than 94 percent of the company’s shares, the statement said.

The transfer of existing shares would help to boost PIF’s assets under management, which are targeted to grow to about four trillion riyals ($1.07tr) by the end of 2025, it added.

“It supports the outlook for the PIF raising funds internationally, including bonds, and could potentially support a future Aramco share sale going forward,” Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, said.

Saudi Aramco said in a statement the transfer was a private transaction between the government and the state fund.

“The company is not a party to the transfer and did not enter into any agreements or pay or receive any proceeds from that transfer,” it said.

It said the move would not affect the number of issued shares nor the company’s operations, strategy, dividends distribution policy or governance framework.

It added that the shares transferred would rank equally among other existing ordinary shares.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2022