Saudi wealth fund says not considering loan for Uber stake

The Public Investment Fund isn’t considering a loan and its investment in Uber Technologies Inc.wasn’t funded by a loan or any other form of borrowing, it said in a statement Friday. People familiar with the matter said Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is weighing a loan of as much as $3 billion for its investment in Uber. The PIF, as the fund is known, held preliminary talks with local and international banks about borrowing between $2 billion and $3 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified as the plans are private. Talks are at an early stage and the PIF hasn’t yet decided whether to proceed with the loan, the people said. The PIF is investing $3.5 billion in the ride-sharing service in its highest-profile overseas investment to date. The deal, announced on Wednesday, gives fund managing director Yasir Alrumayyan a board seat at the San Francisco-based company and is also the biggest investment in Uber to date. The fund aims to boost its share of overseas holdings to about half by 2020, from five percent now. By Matthew Martin, Dinesh Nair and Stefania Bianchi/ Bloomberg