Saudi Fund Wants to Take Tesla Private?

[Adam Varga + 123]

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has been pushing to take electric carmaker Tesla private in talks with Elon Musk dating back nearly two years and also backed the deal last week, according to Musk. 

Investors were already in shock with Musk's last week announcement that he was looking to take Tesla private at $420 a share, valuing company at $72 billion, providing no details on funding except that it was "secured."

[Stormysaga + 62]

So Musk just confirmed the funding is there. Now he just needs to make sure as many as possibly who want in on this deal also get a chance to do so. In that way the Saudis will not get anywhere close to a controlling interest that they should not have because their motives cannot be trusted.  

[Vlad Kovalenko + 115]

Smart move by the Saudis. This move only shows their vision in green energy. They are aware that they can't rely only on oil. Tesla is their way to stay in this musical chair game and take a seat when the music stops. 

[BlackTortoise + 103]

They want to diversify, and go green. Any help from them will secure Tesla's future, financing in new factories and growth would be easier. As long as they don't have a majority owner share - this is just a good thing. Musk stays in control, and have access to whatever funds needed to go ahead at maximum velocity.  

[Stormysaga + 62]

I don’t mind the Saudi family investing in a small portion of Tesla. Saudi Arabia is an irresponsible player regarding climate change. They are rapidly increasing carbon emissions, even though they have huge amounts of free cash and sunlight they could invest toward their own green transformation, if they wished to. It is absolutely naive to trust them with anything more than a small portion of Tesla shares. 

[Vlad Kovalenko + 115]

The Saudis are behind the biggest solar energy project in the world ($ 200 billion) and seem to be very committed to renewable energy. On the other side, The US has been running on Saudi oil for decades and according to the President this country is an important strategic ally of the US. So why should we be outraged by their investment in Tesla?  

[Sofia + 35]

I say no worry, close to 70% Tesla will be own by current holder, 20% by Musk, so very small stake by Saudi. 

[Sefko Trafikant + 35]

For the Saudi's, what type of investment is this..do they really think they can turn this into a cash machine that will generate enough  to make the $72b cap look palatable....and how much control would they have..how much would musk give up...what if Musk leaves...

I think Tesla is more dysfunctional than the U.S. Presidency. Only difference is that no one wants Musk to leave

[Joanna + 68]

3 hours ago, Adam Varga said:

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has been pushing to take electric carmaker Tesla private in talks with Elon Musk dating back nearly two years and also backed the deal last week, according to Musk. 

Investors were already in shock with Musk's last week announcement that he was looking to take Tesla private at $420 a share, valuing company at $72 billion, providing no details on funding except that it was "secured."

A high $420/share buyout price doesn't help the Saudis. They want to buy the company as cheap as possible if they buy it at all. Why should they come in and buy it now? Let the stock fall, they can get it cheap.

[dowmike + 37]

but there's a huge push right now to make batteries for EVs in Saudi Arabia

[Rodent + 1,424]

3 hours ago, Joanna said:

A high $420/share buyout price doesn't help the Saudis. They want to buy the company as cheap as possible if they buy it at all. Why should they come in and buy it now? Let the stock fall, they can get it cheap.

Yup. Tesla stock is just a few late-night wackado tweets away from crashing.

[NickW + 2,714]

If Saudi does take on Tesla do you think they will go down the route of Qatar with obligatory stickers of the Emirs ugly mug on the doors? 

 

Fancy one these on the door of your new Tesla Model 3? 

 

 

Edited August 13, 2018 by NickW

[NickW + 2,714]

6 hours ago, Vlad Kovalenko said:

The Saudis are behind the biggest solar energy project in the world ($ 200 billion) and seem to be very committed to renewable energy. On the other side, The US has been running on Saudi oil for decades and according to the President this country is an important strategic ally of the US. So why should we be outraged by their investment in Tesla?  

Has that actually started? I don't think they got much beyond the Solar roof at Al Midra - Dhahran in 2012. 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

8 hours ago, Stormysaga said:

So Musk just confirmed the funding is there. 

Actually, no he didn't.  Careful wordplay on his part.

Musk: "I Said "Funding Secured" After Meeting With Saudis", Admits It Wasn't

But was the funding really secured? Apparently not, because in the very next paragraph Musk writes that "following the August 7th announcement, I have continued to communicate with the Managing Director of the Saudi fund. He has expressed support for proceeding subject to financial and other due diligence and their internal review process for obtaining approvals. He has also asked for additional details on how the company would be taken private, including any required percentages and any regulatory requirements."

In other words "funding was secured"... subject to due diligence, further review and actual deal details, which would only be formalized after Musk first assured the world that "funding was secured", meanwhile the only real motive behind the tweet was to "burn the shorts."

It gets more complicated:

• July 31st take-private offer: "I understood from [Saudi SWF director] that no other decision makers were needed."
• August 7th version: "He has expressed support for proceeding subject to... their internal review process for obtaining approvals."

So which was it? Or, summarized:

1. I met the Saudis
2. They have lots of cash
3. ...
4. "funding secured"

 

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

Please somebody get Musk a support brain. If he sells out to the Saudis it would be the end of what he stands for, not that anyone would care of course, since adoration and rational thinking don't go together. This is pathetic but no more pathetic than his attempt to wriggle out of the "funding secured" clustermug. Can everyone just stop covering Tesla? It would be a welcome change. End of rant.

[Bhimsen Pachawry + 72]

19 hours ago, Stormysaga said:

So Musk just confirmed the funding is there. Now he just needs to make sure as many as possibly who want in on this deal also get a chance to do so. In that way the Saudis will not get anywhere close to a controlling interest that they should not have because their motives cannot be trusted.  

Like it or not, Saudi control the most precious non-renewable resource on earth - petroleum. Saudis can't be trusted but there is nothing one can do about it.

4 hours ago, Marina Schwarz said:

Please somebody get Musk a support brain. If he sells out to the Saudis it would be the end of what he stands for, not that anyone would care of course, since adoration and rational thinking don't go together. This is pathetic but no more pathetic than his attempt to wriggle out of the "funding secured" clustermug. Can everyone just stop covering Tesla? It would be a welcome change. End of rant.

Musk was shouting conspiracy theories of big oil causing problems to him and he suddenly pops out with a banner that Saudis are funding Tesla. What an irony!

[Rodent + 1,424]

5 hours ago, Marina Schwarz said:

Please somebody get Musk a support brain. If he sells out to the Saudis it would be the end of what he stands for, not that anyone would care of course, since adoration and rational thinking don't go together. This is pathetic but no more pathetic than his attempt to wriggle out of the "funding secured" clustermug. Can everyone just stop covering Tesla? It would be a welcome change. End of rant.

I for one like your rants. 😁

As for covering Tesla, it is just far too crazy to ignore. Good stuff, good stuff! We cannot stop!

[Eric Dexter + 2]

I don't think it's a good investment.  It maybe a historic investment that looses money.  Trash to electricity and diesel or ethanol or whatever would fit in nicely since they have high electric costs.  Tires to diesel exc...  Hydrogen in the local market in Saudi for semis.  That's what I would lean towards instead.

[NickW + 2,714]

The Saudis have got some cracking ideas about what to do with Tesla. For starters there is their novel range extender hook up proposal. All you need is a towbar fitted

 

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

1 hour ago, Rodent said:

I for one like your rants. 😁

As for covering Tesla, it is just far too crazy to ignore. Good stuff, good stuff! We cannot stop!

Sigh. Deeper sigh. Oh, well, can't argue with facts. Imagine a world in which Musk is denied access to Twitter. 

[oilin + 1]

IDEA WAS TO HEDGE DECLINE IN OIL PROFITS WITH TELSA LOSSES NOI IS A BETTER BUY AS US AUTO INDUSTRY NEARING CAPITULATION LEASES DRIVEING NEW SALES CREDIT SHAKEY FOOTING OVERSATURATION OF MARKET EXCEPT TESLA TYPES

[oilin + 1]

SAUDIS SHOULD STEP IN TO BUY STAKE OF VENEZUELAS OIL RESERVES ONLY WAY TO  MARKET STABILITY

[Bhimsen Pachawry + 72]

43 minutes ago, oilin said:

SAUDIS SHOULD STEP IN TO BUY STAKE OF VENEZUELAS OIL RESERVES ONLY WAY TO  MARKET STABILITY

Venezuela has ultra heavy oil which needs other light petroleum to blend. Also, the problem in Venezuela is because of nationalisation of oil industry and oil fields. If Venezuela was open to foreign purchase of its oil fields, then the problem would not ave been there in the first place

[Guillaume Albasini + 851]

So the Saudis are helping Tesla to go private when at the same time considering going public with Aramco...

Listening to Musk explaining why he want  to go private could have some deterring effect on the Saudi's plan to go on with the IPO.

Do you think this could have some effect on the Aramco IPO ? 

 

 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

1 hour ago, Guillaume Albasini said:

Do you think this could have some effect on the Aramco IPO ? 

Related