EL7.AI
Macro EconomyMedium•3 November 2026•
4 min read

SACE discloses $3 billion financing for NEOM to support Italian exports

Key Facts

1SACE completed a $3 billion financing transaction with NEOM in January 2025.
2SACE’s memorandum set out financing support of up to $3 billion for cooperation between Italian companies, PIF and its portfolio companies.
3PIF raised $9.828 billion and secured a $15 billion revolving credit facility in 2024.
4Real Saudi GDP fell 3.8% year on year in the third quarter of 2026, while non-oil activities grew 1.9%.
5Italian GDP was unchanged quarter on quarter and rose 0.8% year on year in the third quarter of 2026.

Italy’s SACE Group said it completed a $3 billion financing transaction with NEOM, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, to support Italian export opportunities in projects in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The agency announced the transaction in January 2025, saying it was linked to the NEOM futuristic city project. The deal positions Italy’s export credit agency as a backer of financing opportunities for Italian companies associated with the project. SACE’s statement did not provide details of the financing tranches or terms. It also did not specify that the financing was exclusively for green projects.

NEOM’s executive vice president said the credit line guaranteed by SACE diversifies the company’s funding sources and gives it financial flexibility to carry out its strategic initiatives. He added that securing the line allows the company to broaden its financing options, as the transaction is tied to Italian export opportunities for its project in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The statement reflects the financial purpose NEOM attributed to the facility, without disclosing a drawdown schedule or financing tenor. It provided no details on borrowing costs or other guarantees. The deal thus highlights the link between the company’s financing and the participation of Italian suppliers in the project.

The cooperation is part of a memorandum of understanding that SACE said focuses on supporting financing for collaboration between Italian private-sector companies, the Public Investment Fund and its portfolio companies. The memorandum also aims to facilitate the work of Italian companies linked to Saudi Vision 2030 projects. The agency said this includes considering support of up to $3 billion. That figure is a support ceiling cited in the memorandum, not a published breakdown of the tranches in the announced transaction with NEOM. SACE describes itself as an Italian insurance and finance group wholly owned by Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, reflecting its institutional role in supporting financing and trade.

SACE said several of the fund’s portfolio companies had previously received more than $3 billion in financing with its support and the participation of multiple financial institutions. This provides background on the agency’s financing relationship with the portfolio companies, but is separate from the transaction the agency said it completed with NEOM. Its statement did not name the companies or specify how the previous financing was distributed among them. According to the fund’s 2024 annual report, PIF raised $9.828 billion through sukuk and conventional bond issuances and a sterling issuance. The fund also secured a $15 billion revolving credit facility that year, as part of its disclosed financing instruments.

In its latest figures cited here, PIF said its revenue rose 9% to $120 billion in 2025 and its assets under management exceeded $900 billion. It added that its cumulative domestic investments exceeded $199 billion between 2021 and 2025, and that its contribution to Saudi Arabia’s real non-oil GDP topped $342 billion over the same period. These figures provide context for the scale of the fund’s investment and economic activity, but do not identify how the NEOM financing proceeds will be used or link them to these indicators. According to SACE’s statement, the announced transaction remains aimed at supporting Italian export opportunities in projects in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

This context coincided with mixed economic estimates for the third quarter of 2026 in Saudi Arabia and Italy. Saudi Gazette, citing Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics, reported that real Saudi GDP fell 3.8% year on year, despite 1.9% growth in non-oil activities in the same quarter. Preliminary estimates attributed the annual decline to a 20.4% drop in oil activities and a 2.7% fall in government activities compared with the third quarter of 2025. On a quarterly basis, seasonally adjusted real Saudi GDP rose 1.3% from the previous quarter. These are economic indicators separate from the NEOM financing announcement, and the source does not link them to the financing decision.

In Italy, Istat’s preliminary estimate showed that GDP was unchanged in the third quarter of 2026 from the previous quarter and rose 0.8% year on year. The institute said the quarterly change reflected increases in value added in services and agriculture, offset by a decline in industry. On the demand side, domestic demand, including changes in inventories, contributed positively, while net foreign demand contributed negatively. Istat set January 29, 2027, as the date for its next GDP release. These data provide background on the Italian economy, to which SACE and the companies benefiting from export opportunities belong, without specifying their effect on the deal.