Elon Musk’s purported Saudi Arabian backer in talks with Tesla rival Lucid
London/New York — PIF, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said could help him fund a $72bn deal to take his electric car maker private, is in talks to invest in aspiring Tesla rival Lucid Motors, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday. The talks between privately held Lucid Motors and PIF underscore the latter’s appetite to invest in electric car makers to diversify the oil-rich Middle Eastern kingdom’s investment portfolio. A deal with Lucid Motors would also be more in line with PIF’s limited resources, given that, despite its $250bn in assets, PIF has already made substantial commitments to other technology companies or investments, including a $45bn agreement to invest in a giant technology fund led by Japan’s SoftBank. PIF and Lucid Motors have drawn up a term sheet under which PIF could invest more than $1bn in Lucid Motors and obtain majority ownership, the sources said. PIF’s first investment in Lucid Motors, however, would be for $5...
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