The Saudi Arabia Sovereign Fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) bought the shares of several European oil and gas companies at once, taking advantage of the reduction in quotations in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and falling oil prices. About it writes The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the details of the transactions.

According to them, over the past few weeks, the fund has managed to buy up "undervalued shares in the market" of Norwegian Equinor, Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, French Total and Italian Eni. According to the interlocutors of the newspaper, PIF may continue to buy shares of oil companies.

According to the publication, during the period from March 30 to April 6, the fund bought about 14.5 million shares of Equinor in the amount of $ 200 million, thus becoming the 12th largest shareholder of this company. The PIF stake in Equinor after completion of the transaction is 3.40%.

WSJ sources did not specify how many shares of the other three companies the fund acquired, but, according to the newspaper, its stake in Royal Dutch Shell is 2.17%, in Total - 1.87%, in Eni - 0.49%. The total value of securities acquired by the fund is estimated at $ 1 billion.