Markets Mubadala’s US portfolio hit by GlobalFoundries slump Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co suffered a paper loss of $2.7 billion on its majority stake in US semiconductor maker GlobalFoundries in the first quarter, US regulatory filings show. GlobalFoundries’ stock price has fallen by about half from its March 2022 peak, extending its decline this year. This lowered the value of […] May 20, 2025
Analysis Markets Saudi IPOs bounce back ‘quicker than expected’ Three initial public offerings launched in the past six weeks stand to raise close to $1.8 billion on the Saudi Exchange – nearly twice as much as the IPOs on the main market in the first quarter. This suggests the lull in Saudi IPOs that followed President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2 […] May 20, 2025
Markets Dubai Holding ups REIT offering on high demand Dubai Holding, an investment vehicle of the emirate’s government, has increased the offering size of its residential real estate investment trust (REIT) on the local market following high demand from local and global investors. The offering now stands at 1.95 billion units compared to the earlier 1.63 billion units, increasing the floating to 15 percent […] May 19, 2025
Markets Saudi Arabia trims bets on US tech stocks Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) rejigged its US equities portfolio during a tumultuous first quarter for Stateside stocks, expanding its direct investment in Amazon but trimming its bets on some of the other so-called Magnificent Seven technology companies. PIF has submitted filings to the US market regulator each financial quarter from 2020 onwards when […] May 18, 2025
Markets Arabian Construction Company hires banks for IPO Arabian Construction Company (ACC), a family-owned business in Abu Dhabi, has reportedly picked local and global banks for its proposed initial public offering. First Abu Dhabi Bank and HSBC will advise the company on its domestic listing, Bloomberg reported. The listing is expected to take place in the second half of the year, sources said. In […] May 16, 2025
Markets Gulf sovereign wealth funds tap secondaries market The Middle East’s sovereign wealth funds are using the surging secondaries investment market to take strategic stakes in emerging technologies, experts have told AGBI. A secondaries investment is the acquisition of interests in already formed private market funds or a portfolio of direct investments from existing investors. Global secondaries transactions rose almost 50 percent last […] May 16, 2025
Analysis Markets Oman’s state IPO history raises question over future sales Oman’s privatisation programme of state-owned companies has boosted government coffers and helped improve the sultanate’s credit rating, but it has brought little joy for equity investors. Since the start of 2023, five state-controlled businesses have sold shares to the public in initial public offerings (IPOs), raising almost $4 billion in total. These span four subsidiaries […] May 15, 2025
Markets Over half of foreign investors on Tadawul are from US More than half of qualified foreign investors (QFIs) in the Saudi stock market are from the US, according to Saudi Tadawul Group, the operator of the stock exchange. The Saudi exchange has more than 4,000 QFIs, Sarah Al-Suhaimi told the Saudi-US Investment Forum. “I can say that approximately 55 percent of foreign investments through the […] May 13, 2025
Markets Dubai Holding seeks up to $500m from REIT listing Dubai Holding aims to raise a maximum of AED1.8 billion ($490 million) from its residential real estate investment trust (REIT) listing. This month the investment conglomerate owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the emirate’s ruler, announced floating 12.5 percent of its Dubai Residential REIT, or 1.63 billion units, on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM). […] May 13, 2025
Markets Dubai lays out welcome mat for Chinese finance The Dubai International Financial Centre is stepping up efforts to attract Chinese securities firms and corporates hoping to raise funds through initial public offerings, positioning itself as an alternative jurisdiction to Hong Kong and New York. Set up in 2004, the DIFC provides a platform for financial institutions with a legal and regulatory framework that […] May 12, 2025
Markets Morocco aims to reclaim its emerging market status Morocco’s stock exchange is set to introduce derivatives trading to reclaim its emerging market status after a 12-year wait. Centrally cleared instruments, including interest rate and single stock futures, will attract a deeper pool of investors, Bloomberg reported quoting Casablanca Exchange CEO Tarik Senhaji. He said the move will help local companies raise funding quickly and […] May 9, 2025
Opinion Markets GCC investors need a multi-currency mindset to survive Investors are scrambling to reduce exposure to erratic US policies May 8, 2025
Markets Tabby and Kitopi plan IPOs but raise economic concerns Fintech company Tabby and cloud kitchen operator Kitopi are preparing to go public. However they have warned about potentially limited share allocations to international investors and Gulf economic risks linked to oil prices being at a four-year low. Dubai-based Tabby, a regional buy-now-pay-later platform, said global funds are reluctant to spend the time and energy […] May 7, 2025
Real Estate Dubai Holding to list real estate investment trust Dubai Holding is to list its residential real estate investment trust (REIT), shrugging off local investor scepticism towards the structures and becoming the first initial public offering (IPO) on the Dubai stock exchange this year. The investment conglomerate owned by Sheikh Muhammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the emirate’s ruler, said on Monday that it will […] May 5, 2025
Markets Saudi IPOs gather steam after ‘Liberation Day’ hiatus Saudi hospital and clinic operator Specialized Medical Company (SMC) starts the process of selling shares to the public on Sunday – only the second IPO in the kingdom since Donald Trump rocked global markets a month ago with his April 2 tariff announcement. It would also be the first Saudi hospital group to list its […] May 5, 2025
Markets PIF’s US portfolio weathers ‘Liberation Day’ storm It has been a month since President Trump’s “Liberation Day” and a near tripling in US tariffs on imports to their highest in more than a century, after which global financial markets plunged. Overall, however, Saudi Arabia’s $940 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF) has not come out of it too badly. So far, anyway. On […] May 2, 2025
Markets DFM first-quarter profit jumps on higher trading activity Profit at Dubai Financial Market surged more than 40 percent year on year in the first quarter, driven by the highest trading activity in more than a decade, the company said. Net profit before tax rose to AED135 million ($37 million) in the three months to March 31, compared with AED95.6 million in the same […] May 2, 2025
Markets Mubadala trims stake in Portuguese telco Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi’s $300 billion sovereign wealth fund, has trimmed its holding in Portuguese telecoms operator NOS SGPS. ATIC Second International Investment, a Mubadala subsidiary, reduced its stake from 5 percent to 3.2 percent, according to a regulatory filing by NOS to the Portuguese Securities Market Commission. No reason was given for the […] May 2, 2025
Analysis Markets Local investors show strong interest in Oman bond issue A lack of alternative investment choices has helped to swell domestic demand for Omani sovereign bonds, with the sultanate’s latest issuance significantly oversubscribed. Oman issued OR100 million of bonds on Thursday, the second of 10 rial-denominated bond and sukuk sales planned for 2025. These will range from OR50 million to OR100 million and will total […] May 1, 2025
Opinion Markets India is the GCC investor’s safe haven by design and default The $4 trillion South Asian juggernaut is relatively insulated from Trump's protectionist caprice April 30, 2025
Markets iMENA Group plans IPO with backing of PIF’s Sanabil A unit of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is investing in iMENA Group as the technology company seeks to raise $135 million from investors and prepare for an initial public offering. Riyadh-based Sanabil Investments – which is owned by $940 billion PIF – made the investment among other financiers including venture capital firm FJ […] April 29, 2025
Economy GCC economic data The latest economic indicators for the Gulf Co-operation Council countries: the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain – plus links to in-depth pages on each country April 29, 2025
