Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund Sells Off Shares in Berkshire, Buys SPDRs and SPAC
Posted on 08/15/2020
Based from SEC filing data from June 30, 2020, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) sold off shares in its early 2020 buying binge. PIF sold off some 210,222 shares in Berkshire Hathaway, reducing its direct ownership position by around 50%, while increasing listed equity ownership in Live Nation Entertainment Inc, Suncor Energy, Carnival Corporation, and Automatic Data Processing. PIF also invested in a SPAC, Churchill Capital Corporation III, which is run by Michael Klein (M. Klein and Company), who has strong ties to the Saudi government.
PIF also invested around US$ 4.6 billion in SPDRs, exchange-traded funds of State Street Global Advisors (State Street Corporation). These SPDRs are the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund, Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund, and Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund.
PIF kept its 72,840,541 shares in Uber Technologies untouched from the two reporting periods.
