Good morning, wonderful people, and welcome to Zero Issue #002 of EnterpriseAM KSA.

It’s an insane morning for capital markets in the Mideast, with plenty of IPO news in the Kingdom and beyond — and more than a handful of high-profile M&A involving listed companies:

  • Leading regional broadcaster is MBC is going public on the Tadawul;
  • The Nomu continues to build momentum for two closely watched parallel-market IPOs;
  • We have M&A news from SABIC, Zain KSA, and the PIF’s MMA fighting franchise.

And that’s just in KSA. Over in the UAE, PureHealth says it will IPO in December, OSN+ and Anghami are merging, and crypto miner Phoenix says its IPO was more than 33x oversubscribed.

We have coverage of events here in the Kingdom in this morning’s news well, below, while the UAE news leads Planet Finance.

PROGRAMMING NOTE- We’re off tomorrow (Thursday, 23 November) and will be back in your inboxes on Monday morning.

** This is a zero issue of EnterpriseAM Saudi and has not been published or distributed to a wide audience. The sponsor logos above are not correct because we’re still developing the new Saudi template.

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☀️WEATHER- Expect entirely seasonal weather today, with a high of 24°C in Riyadh (dipping to 14°C overnight). There’s no rain today in Dammam (28°C / 17°C), while it’s going to be a bit warmer in Mecca (33°C / 23°C) and Jeddah (33°C / 26°C) with not a cloud in the sky.

Pro tip from Riyadh Civil Defense and the national weather center: Do not head out to the desert if the forecast so much as hints at the possibility of rain. The National Center for Meteorology has taken to X to warn citizens to exercise a high degree of caution as we look forward to winter rain. Civil Defense is urging people to be cautious, follow guidelines, and avoid flood-prone areas.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Saudi Games are coming back next week: A revamped second edition of the SaudiGames gets underway on Sunday in Riyadh with a new youth division that include athletes under the age of 18. The event, which runs until Sunday, 10 December, includes 53 individual and team sports — six of Paralympic sports — making it the biggest sports event in the history of the Kingdom. You can book your tickets here.

We’re also looking forward to Riyadh Laughs this weekend. It’s too late to get tickets toMaz Jobrani’s show on Thursday night at Boulevard Riyadh City’s Muvi Cinema — it’s already sold out. But tickets are still available for Dammam-born actor and comedian Ibrahim Al Hajjaj’s show (Instagram) on Friday night. Doors open at 8:15pm AST. Shakir Sherif (Instagram) takes the stage at Boulevard on Saturday.

A fresh slate of comedians will take to the stage at the end of next week — we’ll have more for you then.

** Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

PSA- Don’t put your kids online, says SDAIA.The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) has launched an awareness campaign with the aim of protecting children’s personal data, the authority said in a Linkedin post on Monday. Families are being advised against posting pictures of children online and sharing personal data such as names and home addresses on unfamiliar websites. The authority is also warning parents to regularly have a look at what the kids are storing on their devides.

COP WATCH-

COP28 is only a week away, with global leaders in climate, policy, and business preparing for 13 days of intense negotiations in Dubai to save our planet from climate catastrophe. The gathering runs from 30 November to 12 December. Check in with our regional sister publication, Enterprise Climate, for wall-to-wall coverage.

Just in time for COP: A hydrogen-powered truck. AlmajdouieLogistics, Air Products Qudra and the Transport General Authority (TGA) launched yesterday trial operations for Saudi Arabia’s first hydrogen-powered truck, state-run news agency Saudi Press Agency reports. The truck can cover more than 400 km with 35 kg of hydrogen.

REMEMBER- We’re also getting our first hydrogen-fueled train: National rail operator SaudiArabia Railways (SAR) — a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund — landed a license last week from the TGA to start trials of the first hydrogen-powered passenger train in the Middle East and Africa

…AND H2 fueling stations: Saudi Railways has also signed an MoU with Air Products Qudra to build an undisclosed number of hydrogen fueling stations for trains on a build, own and operate basis, Zawya reports.

PLUS- The finger-wagging west: Researchers in Melbourne, Australia, think Saudi should spend less time planting trees and that we should instead look to reduce our CO2 footprint “by reducing emissions, not pledging [to plant] large areas of land,” Bloomberg writes.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A TRADE WAR?

The General Authority for Foreign Trade is looking into allegations that China and Russia are dumping SNF on Saudi Arabia. The investigation comes after complaints from industry players that foreign manufacturers are exporting sulfonated naphthalene formaldehyde (SNF) to KSA at below-market prices, state-run news agency SPA announced yesterday.

SOUND SMART- Dumping allegations are typically raised when a commodity is sold in export markets at below-market prices thanks to either subsidies and / or a supply glut in the market of origin.

Uh, Enterprise? What’s SNF, anyway? SNF is a key additive to cement and, critically for countries like KSA and others in our region, it can be used to make construction more water-efficient by keeping the water-to-cement ratio in concrete low. It’s most-often used in ready-mix concrete as well as precast and prestressed components for infrastructure projects and buildings. SNF is also used as a fluid in the drilling and metalworking industries and can be important to textile makers and in water treatment.

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD-

The global business press is focused on three stories on this fine November morning:

#1-The Israeli government has agreed to a hostage swap with Hamas that will see a four-day pause in the fighting. At least 50 Israeli hostages will be released and some 150 Palestinian detained freed. The news is everywhere, from from Reuters and Bloomberg to the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.

#2- We still have no clue who will lead OpenAI — or whether deposed CEO Sam Altman is going to take his team to Microsoft. But there are signs that OpenAI’s board buckling — it’s said to be in talks once more with Altman to bring him back. The Verge reports that Altman prefers to return to OpenAI, and Microsoft boss Satya Nadella has pulled back a bit from public discussion of what’s going on. Nearly all of the company’s 700 employees have reportedly threatened to leave if Altman is not reinstated.

Follow the story throughout the day by dipping into the Verge’s story stream.

Want to go deeper? Try Kara Swisher’s interview with Nadella or the Vergecast’s bid to makesense of what’s going on.

#3- This morning in corporate crime: The CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange has pleaded guilty to money laundering. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (known as CZ in the crypto world) has stepped down and pleaded guilty to breaching anti-money laundering laws in the US in what was described by prosecutors as one of the heftiest corporate penalties in US history, according to statements from the US Treasury and Justice Department yesterday.

Zhao will likely serve no more than 18 months in prison as part of a plea agreement, despite facing a sentence of up to 10 years.The news is everywhere this morning in the global business press: Reuters | Bloomberg | Financial Times | CNBC | Wall Street Journal.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

#1- Riyadh is hosting a real estate investment conference talking up opportunities in Egypt. Expect senior Saudi and Egyptian government officials to be on hand alongside leaders of the industry in both countries.

#2- Also: A number of bold-name Saudi companies are in Cairo today for the Egy-GCCBusiness Forum, which takes place today and tomorrow. Egyptian officials said they were shopping some 150 projects to Saudi investors at a meeting of the Egypt-Saudi Business Council in Cairo yesterday.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

OPEC+ member states are meeting on Sunday to discuss how the cartel of oil-producing nations will respond to falling oil prices and how new economic realities could further stifle demand. There’s talk of an additional cut of 1 mn barrels per day, according to industry insider chatter picked up by the Financial Times.

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