Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has invested US$200 million in a Saudi bond exchange-traded fund managed by State Street Global Advisors.
The SPDR J.P. Morgan Saudi Arabia Aggregate Bond UCITS ETF was listed on both the London Stock Exchange and German trading platform Xetra on January 8.
It is the first UCITS structured Saudi fixed income ETF in Europe and is benchmarked against the newly-created index J.P. Morgan Saudi Arabia Aggregate Index, PIF says in a statement issued upon the listing.
According to the sovereign wealth fund, the listing marks a “significant milestone” in providing greater international access to Saudi Arabia’s “diversified and dynamic market”.
“PIF’s investment into the first internationally listed fixed income Saudi ETF further deepens the Saudi market, while attracting investors and strengthening cross-geography partnerships, increasing international investment in Saudi Arabia,” says Yazeed Al-Humied, the wealth fund’s deputy governor and head of Middle East and North Africa investments.
Riyadh-based PIF has around $930 billion of assets under management.
