Good morning, friends, and welcome to another packed issue. Two themes run deep: Capital markets (we have another IPO) and technology (where the global obsession with AI looks set to get even more intense in the weeks ahead). But first:

HAPPENING TODAY-

As many as 450 execs from some 300 British companies will descend upon Riyadh today and tomorrow for Saudi Great Futures, a UK government-sponsored investment conference backed by our friends at HSBC.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden will be leading the delegation as part of a year-long campaign that UK officials hope will result in expanded “trade, tourism, education, and cultural activity.” Dowden is no stranger to Saudi — the Tory MP spoke last fall at the Future Investment Initiative — check out his remarks here.

“We’re opening up our markets to one another, so that investment, exports, tourism and collaboration flows in both directions,” Dowden told Bloomberg.

The pitch: “The Saudis have a respect and appetite for British intelligence, ingenuity, skills and experience from architecture to education, clean tech to AI, luxury to fashion and creativity to construction,” the event website declares. Dowden’s office notes that the “five lead gigaprojects” will see investment of c. USD 3 tn through 2030.

Also getting attention this morning: Gigaprojects after yesterday’s Saudi Gigaprojects 2024, hosted by Meed. Top execs from projects including The Line, Diriyah, and New Murabba were on hand to talk up a USD 880 bn pipeline.

The big issue? Time. “I think our biggest problem with these projects is time,” said Oussama Kabbani, a top official at PIF-backed Roshn Real Estate. “Make no mistake we made commitments to His Royal Highness that we will be a showcase of the 2030 Vision. The challenge now is how much we can achieve from our promise,” Bloomberg quotes him as saying.

We saw this coming: We reported in December that officials had accepted that they may have to accept modest fiscal deficits as the price of pursuing growth. “ We intentionally decided to spend more and cause the deficit. If you spend that money right, on productive assets, then it’s money well spent,” Finance Minister Mohamed Al Jadaan said at the time. He signaled the ministry would continue to run deficits to support the “government’s strategic expansionary spending” even as it paced out some components of select gigaprojects. Some officials have taken to calling gigaprojects modular and Neom has gone on a drive to underscore to contractors and bankers that everything is on track.

A delegation headed by Transport Minister Saleh Al Jasser is in Finland to discuss localizing the smart transport industry with Finnish officials, the Transport Ministry said yesterday. Al Jasser will meet Finnish Foreign Trade and Development Minister Ville Tavio, as well as the ministers of transport and communication, and economic affairs, along with some industry leaders, according to a Finnish Foreign Ministry statement. The trip wraps up today.

WEATHER- There’s a chance of rain in Riyadh with a daytime high of 38°C and a low of 29°C. Makkah is set for a clear sky with a high of 41°C while the low is expected at 29°C, while a windy weather is in the cards for Jeddah with a high of 35°C and a low of 29°C.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

It’s shaping up to be an important week for Saudi-US relations. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is due in town later this week, suggesting that talks are advancing on a pact that could see US support for the Saudi nuclear power industry. A nuclear energy pact is one of three cornerstone agreements (along with one on defense and a third on AI and advanced technologies) that could be part of a grand accord that sees us normalize relations with Israel.

ALSO THIS WEEK- Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson will be in Riyadh this week as part of a tour that will also take him to Italy. “Nelson will meet with Saudi Space Agency and other senior officials to discuss future collaboration and underscore the importance of civil space cooperation for the broader United States and Saudi Arabia relationship,” a Nasa statement reads.

DATA POINTS-

#1- Car prices rose 15% over the last five years, Aleqtisadiah quotes Haji HuseinAlireze (HHH) Managing Director Ali Reda as saying. HHH is the distributor of the Mazda, Man, and Aston Martin brands in the Kingdom. The surge in prices is a result of global inflation as well as higher shipping and ins. costs due to geopolitical tensions (think: the Houthis), Reda said. The market has also been impacted by the higher interest rate environment — which also impacted purchasing power and drove down demand, he said.

ALSO- Some 93k cars were imported last year, a 39% y-o-y increase, the news outlet reports, citing data from the Zakat, Tax, and Customs Authority (Zatca).

#2- The number of listed companies in Saudi reached 310 by the end of 2023, rising 50% since the pandemic, Capital Market Authority Chairman Mohammed Bin Abdullah Elkuwaiz said in a statement. Speaking at a public session hosted by the Milken Institute last week, Elkuwaiz said the local capital market was now among the top 10 leading markets globally and had the 16th highest IPO proceeds.

In his words: “Being open to the world and easing foreign investment in a way that shall achieve the Kingdom’s objectives are among the enablers of creating a capital market that is liquid enough to contribute to financing new sectors of economic activity and sustainably increase the capacity of our markets via more international investors, increasing freefloat, and more liquidity,” Elkuwaiz said.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- PIF-owned Saudi Entertainment Ventures (Seven) has been added to Qiddiya Investment Company’s portfolio, which is also owned by the sovereign wealth fund, state news agency SPA reported yesterday. Seven’s addition to QIC aims to “achieve integration between the two company’s activities in the [entertainment] sector.” No further details were provided.

Background: Qiddiya, a USD multi-bn development, aims to become the world’s largestentertainment hub. The district will be home to the first Dragon Ball themed park as well as a multi-use stadium where Qiddiya plans to host major sports, cultural and entertainment events, including games at the 2034 Fifa World Cup. The destination will also be home to the world’s first gaming and esports district. QIC’s board recently approved the launch of a new water theme park that is slated to be the first of its kind in Saudi and the largest in the region.

Seven has some plans up its sleeve: It’s investing over SAR 50 bn to build 21 entertainment destinations in 14 cities across the country, including Riyadh, Makkah, Taif, Dammam, Madinah, Yanbu and others. It unveiled its first entertainment destination in Abha’s Aseer province in November last year.

#2- Shareholders of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), will vote on the group’s acquisition of an additional stake in Citigroup on Monday, 3 June, the Tadawul-listed company said in a disclosure to Tadawul yesterday. The transaction will see Kingdom raise its stake in Citigroup to 2.2% through the acquisition of an additional stake worth SAR 1.7 bn (USD 450 mn) from its chairman, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

REMEMBER- Alwaleed and Citigroup go way back: Alwaleed’s ties with Citigroup date back to the early 1990s, when he poured in USD 590 mn to become the investment bank’s largest shareholder at the time.

KHC’s ownership: Prince Alwaleed currently owns a 78.1% stake in the company, with 5% of its stock trading on Tadawul. The PIF acquired a 17% stake in KHC from Prince Alwaleed in 2022 in a USD 1.5 bn transaction.

#3- Pakistan plans to have a number of “major agreements” ready for signing ahead of a Saudi delegation visit to Islamabad, Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan said at a press conference (watch, runtime: 1:04) yesterday. “A higher delegation from Saudi Arabia will definitely come to Pakistan, so before that, we should make a final form of these things, so that in the final form of B2B (business-to-business), some major agreements are signed,” he said. Khan did not disclose details on when the Saudi delegation will visit Pakistan or the specific agreements that could be signed during their visit.

In context- Pakistani officials said earlier this week that arrangements were being “worked out” for Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Pakistan. Plans for the visit were first made public by Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar last week after the conclusion of a visit by a delegation of senior Saudi officials to Pakistan during which they attended a two-day investment conference. There had been rumblings that the visit could take place as early as this month, but officials have yet to confirm a date.

A much anticipated visit for crisis-hit Pakistan: The visit could help bring Pakistan closer to a USD 5 bn investment package by Saudi that was discussed during a meeting between the Crown Prince and Pakistan’s prime minister last month. Saudi has been among key supporters of Pakistan, extending the term of a USD 3 bn in deposit at the State Bank of Pakistan for an additional year to mature in December 2024. This is in addition to USD 2 bn in financial assistance from the Kingdom last year to shore up the country’s finances.

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PSA-

REGULATION WATCH- The government will gradually roll out a decision to make it mandatory for employers to pay the monthly salaries of their domestic workers through the Musaned platform, according to a statement from the Human Resources and Social Development Ministry.

The new system will be applied to all new contracts starting Monday, 1 July 2024, while it will be rolled out gradually to existing contracts between 1 January and 1 October, 2025. It’s expected that by 1 January, 2026, everyone will be part of the new system. Musaned has been available to be used on a voluntary basis since 1 April, 2022.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

It’s a really, really tech-heavy morning in the business press: Reviews are out for the iPad Air and iPad Pro models that Apple announced last week, ChatGPT maker OpenAI released a voice-assistant-like product that will chat with you in the (unauthorized, dystopian) voice of Scarlett Johansson in Her.

Meet Her: OpenAI is actually calling it Chat-GPT4o (the letter ‘o’ at the end, not a zero) and it lit our X and Threads on fire for sounding exactly like Johansson in a movie in which a character falls in love with an AI voice assistant. You can chat with GPT4o using your voice — and it can turn on your device’s camera to have a look around if it’s relevant to your ‘conversation.’ And unlike the current incarnation of Siri, it appears pretty seamless.

You can try it now for yourself: Head here to learn more or listen to a demo. If you already have a subscription to ChatGPT and have it running in a browser, do a hard refresh and then hit the dropdown menu on the top left to choose ChatGPT-4o.

The story is everywhere: The Verge | Financial Times | Wall Street Journal | Reuters | CNBC

You can already feel the ennui in this CNBC headline: AI may not replace you, but someone who uses it can — here’s the No. 1 skill you need to stay relevant.

UP NEXT- the Google I/O developer conference starts this morning. The Mountain View company is expected to announce (you guessed it) a new AI-powered voice assistant and a bunch of other Android goodies.

Consider it the prelude to a few very tech-heavy weeks: Microsoft’s Build conference runs next week (21-23 May) and could see Redmond announce an AI-powered search app based on ChatGPT. All eyes then turn to Cupertino for Apple’s WWDC, at which the tech giant will unveil new versions of its various operating systems with plenty of AI baked in. Pundits will be watching to see how much of the AI goop Apple layers onto its OSes is homegrown and how much is licensed from ChatGPT or Google — it’s in talks with both.

ALSO IN AI- A UAE research institute has rolled out a new, open-source GenAI model named Falcon 2, it said in a statement yesterday. The institute says the model outperforms both Llama 3 from Meta as well as Google’s Gemma, which underpins the Gemini products. “We were able to achieve way higher performance than a lot of the bigger guys, and at a fraction of their compute and a fraction of their team size,” a top UAE tech official told Bloomberg.

REVIEWS- So, should you buy a new iPad? Will the device be transformed in a few weeks’ time by the unveiling of a new iPadOS that makes it as Mac-like as the new keyboard case now on sale for the Pro model? In search of answers, we bring you:

CLOSER TO HOME- Israeli troops have been let loose in both the north and south of Gaza and Israel has proposed that the Palestinian Authority should run the Rafah border crossing, which Israeli troops took over last week.

JOIN US IN CAIRO?

Egypt’s top executives and business owners will gather in Cairo on Wednesday, 5 June for the Enterprise Optimism Forum.

On the menu: Blunt talk about a future that sees Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the the UAE at the heart of a more vital Middle East economy.

The goal: To provide an early, actionable roadmap for those who are “long Egypt.”

** Interested in attending? Tap or click here to let us know. ** Seating is limited and available on an invitation-only basis.

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