Banking & Finance Public Investment Fund reports 13% profit hike to $22.8bn By Pramod Kumar October 31, 2022, 5:32 AM Reuters/Ahmed Yosri The kingdom is currently in talks with more banks as it aims to get advisers on board for Aramco's upcoming IPO Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) reported profit of SAR 85.7 billion ($22.81 billion) in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 13 percent, according to the Saudi Gazette newspaper. The PIF’s revenue rose 27 percent year-on-year to SAR 228.2 billion and profit from associate companies hit SAR 8.6 billion, a 75 percent increase. Its other operating incomes jumped 204 percent year-on-year to SAR 7.6 billion, while the costs of financing income grew 87 percent year-on-year to SAR 4.5 billion. The value of the fund’s fixed assets jumped 43 percent year-on-year to SAR 292.8 billion. The value of investments in its associate companies edged up 2 percent year-on-year to hit SAR 118.5 billion. Soft diplomacy rose to new levels at Saudi Arabia’s sixth FII forum The PIF’s investments in securities classified as assets grew by 29 percent year-on-year to SAR 535.3 billion. Total assets reached about SAR 2.54 trillion, up 23 percent year-on-year. The fund owns shares in 22 Saudi-listed companies, valued at about SAR 896.17 billion. These include Saudi Telecom Co, Saudi National Bank, Saudi Electricity Co, ACWA Power, Riyad Bank, Alinma Bank, Kingdom Holding Co and Saudi Aramco. The PIF launched a Local Content Growth Program earlier this year, aiming to boost its contribution to local content to 60 percent by the end of 2025.