Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund bought a 5.7% stake in the LiveNation, the U.S. events and ticketing company, which is parent to Ticketmaster, according to reports.
The investment is the latest in a string of equity purchases by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) into companies whose values are seen as temporarily low due to economic damage wrought by the global coronavirus pandemic.
The news of the PIF’s stake in the company caused LiveNation’s stock to soar 10%.
Saudi Arabia has taken a $500m stake in LiveNation.
As CNBC reports, Saudi Arabia’s investment makes the PIF the third-largest shareholder in the company after Liberty Media Corp and Vanguard Group.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, head of the PIF, said the fund is looking to make more value investments in the weeks and months to come.
“We are looking into any opportunity,” he said. “Once the economy is open and up, I think we will see a lot of opportunities,” he said, giving airlines, energy and entertainment companies as examples.
Earlier this month, the PIF amassed stakes worth roughly $1 billion in four major European oil companies, buying stakes in Equinor ASA, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Total SA, and Eni SPA, all energy companies that had seen their value lessened during the coronavirus pandemic.
