Chinese company Guolian Aquatic Products will receive USD 560 million in financial support from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Yicar Global reported. The deal aims to promote projects related to seafood trade, including trading platforms, exchange, futures, and procurement. PIF will support the businesses with direct investment or financing. PIF will also extend a credit line of up to USD 60 million to Guolian Aquatic's global seafood procurement process.

Partnering with PIF will help expand Guolian Aquatic's presence in the global seafood industry and reduce the dependency of its procurement funds on its own cash flow, the firm pointed out. PIF's support will also offer an alternative source of funds at a time when major overseas economies are tightening the cost of borrowing.

Since Guolian Aquatic first signed a deal with Saudi Arabia's National Aquaculture Group in September 2019 to exclusively resell its whiteleg shrimp in the Chinese market, imports of the product have continued to grow, laying a solid foundation for the latest tie-up, Guolian Aquatic said.

Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC), the investment arm of the Public Investment Fund in the food and agriculture sector, has also acquired a 42.4% stake in the National Aquaculture Group (Naqua).

SALIC will leverage its partnership with Naqua to foster the development and enhancement of the local aquaculture sector with the aim of enabling local aquaculture production, which will contribute to both direct and indirect job creation. The acquisition is in line with SALIC’s strategic objectives, which include achieving national food security targets and enablement of the local agricultural food sector through increasing local production that will contribute to the improvement of the nation’s balance deficit.