Just days after Toyota became the latest investor in Uber, in hopes of boosting car lease transactions, moments ago FT reported that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, is investing $3.5 billion in the ride-sharing company. This would be the largest single investment ever made in a private company. As the FT notes, this brings Uber’s cash holding to more than $11billion at a time when the company is aggressively expanding in nearly 70 countries worldwide.
As the FT further notes, the deal marks the closing of Uber’s Series G investment round, which began last year and has raised more than $5bn from investors including Russia’s LetterOne and China’s Baidu, At a valuation of $62.5 billion, the PIF will own approximately 5% of Uber, and its managing director, Yasir Al Rumayyan, will join Uber’s board.
In total Uber has raised around $10.7bn from outside investors, excluding a $2.3bn convertible debt facility, making it the best funded start-up in the world.
As FT adds, the news comes just two weeks after Uber’s Chinese rival Didi Chuxing announced a $1bn investment from Apple, raising the stakes in the expensive ride-hailing wars in China. Uber has been pouring money into subsidies in China and India in a bid to gain market share from local rivals.
Ironically, the investment comes shortly after we showed what happened in China when local taxi drivers decided to protest such disruptive ride-sharing platforms as Uber and Didi: “The aggressive ride-hailing company has ruffled feathers in many countries, particularly in Europe, where its low-end Uber Pop service is banned in several countries. However in the Middle East, Uber has been largely embraced, with Cairo of one of its fastest growing cities.”
The Saudi investment is said to not be tied to any specific agreement to expand its services further in Saudi Arabia, where it already operates in five cities. Ride-hailing services have been particularly popular among women in Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed to drive themselves.
“I think it is an indicative investment of where we are moving for the country, putting our money in a visionary business,” said Princess Reema Bandar al-Saud, who is a member of Uber’s global policy advisory board. “A lot of people were originally quite sceptical of Uber in our region, and the fact that PIF is investing is quite an indicator of how things are changing,” she added.
What is most surprising is that the investment comes at a time when the Saudis are planning on issuing $15 (or more) in international bonds, the country’s first international debt offering. In other words, bond investors will be indirectly purchasing Uber shares however without any of the upside, and all the downside should oil resume it slide.
via http://ift.tt/1XQoJFh Tyler Durden