Good morning, and welcome to an uncharacteristically busy Monday. The big story here at home is the upcoming start of trading on Bank Albilad’s CSOP MSCI Hong Kong China ETF, which is set to be the Kingdom’s largest ETF to track Hong Kong-listed Chinese stocks.

^^ We have chapter and verse on this story and others in this morning’s news well, below.

HAPPENING TODAY-

The two-day Global PropTech summit at the Mövenpick Hotel in Riyadh wraps up today. The event features over 100 speakers from 80 countries, with industry leaders and investors sharing their insights on the challenges, and prospects for prop-tech and digital transformation in the sector. The conference is hosted by the Real Estate General Authority.

HAPPENING TOMORROW-

The Future Investment Initiative Conference kicks off in the capital city tomorrow, and runs until Thursday, 31 October. The conference — led by Public Investment Fund Governor Yasir Al Rumayyan — is expected to draw in top brass from the global finance stage, including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, BlackRok CEO Larry Fink, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, and London Stock Exchange Julia Hoggett, according to Reuters.

WEATHER- Riyadh is looking at a high of 27°C and a low of 23°C today. Over in Jeddah, the temperature will peak at 38°C before dropping to 28°C. Meanwhile, Madinah will see a high of 38°C and a low of 26°C.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- PE firm General Atlantic is setting up shop here: General Atlantic is launching its first office in Saudi Arabia to deepen its presence and pursue potential investments in the region, Bloomberg reports. General Atlantic aims for the office to “build on the momentum of a growing entrepreneurial ecosystem and help build the next generation of market leading companies from the Middle East,” chief executive officer Bill Ford told the business information service. The firm has deployed USD 1 bn in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey since 2012.

Leading the KSA office: The firm tapped Ziyad Baeshen to lead the new office, with a focus on building relationships with local entrepreneurs and investing in high-growth companies across technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer markets, and climate industries.

#2- Almajed Oud plans to launch a fully owned subsidiary in Qatar, with SAR 50k in capital, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul. The perfume maker’s IPO retail offering in September was 8.2x oversubscribed, drawing in SAR 1.2 bn in demand for 20% of the shares on offer at SAR 94 apiece.

#3- A new consultancy in town: sustainability and social impact-focused consultancy Sada Impact has launched operations in the Kingdom, offering services including strategic advisory, workshops focused on corporate purpose, female leadership, and social impact for startups, according to an emailed statement (pdf) to EnterpriseAM Saudi.

#4- Saudi-based Gulf Electricity Interconnection Authority plans to invest over USD 1 bn in developing the power grid connecting GCC countries over the next five years, reports Mubasher quotes authority CEO Ahmed Al Ibrahim as saying. The authority previously invested around USD 1 bn to expand connections with Kuwait, the UAE, and Oman, according to Al Ibrahim. The interconnection with Kuwait will be completed by year-end, while projects with the UAE and Oman will start early next year, and will run for two to three years, he added. Meanwhile, the interconnection project with Iraq is 70% complete, with expectations for it to be operational next year.

#5- Tune in to SDAIA’s AI podcast: The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) launched the Gain Podcast to raise awareness in artificial intelligence and data, featuring industry experts, in a 14-episode series, it said in an emailed statement (pdf) to EnterpriseAM. You can watch the podcast on the profile of Global AI Summit on X.

#6- Aleph has expanded its partnership with Reddit to Saudi, the UAE and Egypt in a bid to support local advertisers and agencies in the region, it said in a statement (pdf). The extended partnership will see Aleph assist Reddit in expanding its digital advertising ecosystem to MENA, following successful rollouts in Central Europe and Asia-Pacific.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Election news, escalations between Iran and Israel, and chatter around a potential ceasefire in Gaza continue to push business news further to the bottom of the foreign press’ front pages.

Japan’s ruling coalition lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since 2009 in snap elections yesterday, according to public broadcaster NHK’s projections, casting the country into political uncertainty. While the Liberal Democratic Party lost seats, Japan’s largest opposition party — the Constitutional Democratic Party — made big gains.

Market analysts are expecting the JPY and the Nikkei to suffer from an expected uncertainty in the legislative process of the country, Semafor said. The JPY has already weakened to its lowest level in almost three months following the news, Bloomberg reports. The Nikkei, however, has yet to show signs of faltering, rising 1% in early trade this morning, while the Topix is also up.

Israeli and Iranian officials are making their thoughts known on the impact of Israel’s strikes on Iran on Saturday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming the attack “severely [harmed] its defense capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that would be launched at us,” after Israeli officials initially kept quiet on the details of the strike, Bloomberg reports. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on the other hand, said the strike must “neither be downplayed nor exaggerated,” BBC reported.

What about that ceasefire in Gaza? President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said (watch, runtime: 21:55) yesterday that Egypt has proposed an initial two-day ceasefire in Gaza to exchange Israeli detainees of Hamas for Palestinian prisoners. The temporary ceasefire would then see permanent ceasefire talks resume within 10 days, El Sisi added.

It’s unclear if Israel and Hamas are on board: Unnamed sources told Al Arabiya that both sides signaled they will commit to the new accord, though Israeli reports claim Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still set on continuing his nation’s invasion and strikes on northern Gaza during ceasefire negotiations, going against one of Hamas’ key conditions.

The situation on the ground remains dire: El Sisi’s announcement came as Israeli strikes killed 75 Palestinians across Gaza, with the UN describing the situation in northern Gaza as “unbearable.”

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The five-day Jeddah International Motor Show revs up tomorrow, running through Saturday, 2 November. The event will showcase motorcycle and drift shows, sim and kart racing, a lineup of custom-tuned cars, and more.

WWE Raw is coming to Riyadh for the first time ever on 2-3 November, kicking off on the back of the WWE Crown Jewel event the day prior, Turki Alalshikh said in a post on X. You can book your Raw tickets here, and your Crown Jewel tickets here.

The two-day Road Safety and Sustainability Conference and Exhibition will open its doors on Sunday, 3 November, bringing global experts together to discuss technological advancements, AI applications, and sustainability in the transport sector.

The Saudi RailConference and Exhibition will take place on 20-21 November at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center. The event will showcase developments in the railway sector and provide insights from over 150 local and international speakers.

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