Saudi Arabia’s Neom, the company developing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s flagship megaproject, is looking to raise a 10 billion riyal (S$3.5 billion) loan, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Neom, a unit of the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, is talking to a group of mostly local lenders to raise money to help fund early stages of the US$500 billion project, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Banks are negotiating terms with Neom and, if agreed, the loan could be completed in the next few months, the people said.

In addition, Neom is planning to raise up to three billion riyals from local banks to fund the development of Shushah Island, a luxury tourism development, the people said. 

Neom declined to comment. 

Spearheaded by the crown prince, Neom is the biggest project in his plan to diversify the country’s oil-dependent economy. He wants the city to be a showpiece that will transform Saudi Arabia’s economy and serve as a test bed for technologies that could revolutionise daily life. 

Its developer has signed several deals this year to bring in investment into the project. Neom last month finalised a deal worth more than 21 billion riyals with a group of local investors, to develop temporary housing and facilities for 95,000 people under a public-private partnership deal. Prior to that, it signed a three-billion riyal loan with Riyad Bank to fund the development of an island-tourism resort called Sindalah. Bloomberg

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