Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman is beefing up Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund a little more, which should contribute to the diversification of the country's economy.
He has just transferred 4% of the shares of the oil company Aramco, of which the State owns more than 94%.
That is a jackpot of 80 billion dollars (70 billion euros).
The Public Investment Fund (PIF), led by the main heir himself, is responsible for investing nationally and globally to reduce the monarchy's dependence on the oil industry, and to support the reforms of the Vision plan 2030. In the country, this fund has already worked to develop infrastructure, tourism, renewable energies, etc.
He received land and billions of dollars from central bank reserves for this.
It aims to hold more than 1,000 billion dollars under management by the end of 2025. It had already gathered last year almost half.
The transfer of Aramco shares and their generous dividends reinforces its financial resources, but above all strengthens its financial base in the face of investors.
It has just been rated by the rating agencies for the first time, no doubt because it is preparing to borrow on the international markets.
Aramco clarified that this transfer of shares was a private operation between the State and the sovereign wealth fund.
But some experts believe it could precede the release of new shares of the Saudi oil giant, the world's largest oil exporter.
This company, initially totally state-owned, was introduced with great fanfare on the Riyadh Stock Exchange in December 2019. The operation had then brought in 29.4 billion dollars to the kingdom.
With the current surge in crude prices, the sale of new shares could be even more lucrative.
And the sovereign wealth fund has already sold last year for more than 3 billion dollars its stake in the operator Saudi Telecom.