By Saeed Azhar

DUBAI, (Reuters) – The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth funds, almost tripled its U.S.-listed stock holdings to $43.45 billion during the third quarter. It also added shares of Alibaba (NYSE) Group, Walmart (NYSE) and Pinterest (NYSE)

The quarter ending Sept. 30, its U.S. listed stock holdings increased by nearly $16 billion from the preceding quarter according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

It also bought Just Eat Takeaway.com (NASDAQ:) and Ballard Power Systems.

Saudi Arabia’s plan to change the economy is centred on PIF. The PIF manages assets of $430 Billion.

PIF also holds a 62.72% interest in Lucid, an electric vehicle company with a market valuation of around $71 Billion. That is a large increase since the September end.

According to Diego Lopez (Managing Director at Global SWF), a specialist in industry data, “The Q3 number is significantly higher than Q2, although most of it is due Lucid Motors IPO’s in July.”

The effect of Lucid is not isolated. U.S. equity holdings rose only 11% from $15.9 to $17.7 billion.

Lucid’s listing in July was a huge dividend for the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which invested more than $1 billion in the company in 2018 for a substantial stake and invested more in February. A 3.75% share of Uber Technologies, a ride-sharing service (NYSE:) is also owned by the PIF.

The PIF is pursuing a two-pronged strategy, building an international portfolio of investments while also investing locally in projects that will help reduce Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil.

“While PIF’s strategy in 2020 seemed to be focused on short-term gains, we’ve seen a change in 2021, with only one divestment so far,” Lopez said, adding that the focus is moving towards private partnerships.

PIF also invested $45 Billion in Softbank’s $100 Billion technology fund.

Recent years have seen the PIF benefit from a number of financing sources including loans, central bank reserve transfers and $40 billion in transfer money.