Good morning, wonderful people. It’s a busy Wednesday here in the Kingdom, starting off with back-to-back IPOs after Almoosa Health rang the opening bell yesterday and Nice One is set to begin trading this morning.

HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- Shares of beauty retailer Nice One will begin trading on Tadawul’s main market today, according to a statement from the exchange. Shares can fluctuate within a ±30% range for the first three days, after which price fluctuations will be capped at ±10% as circuit breakers take effect.

REFRESHER- The beauty retailer is selling a 31.5% stake in a SAR 908 mn IPO that will be Saudi’s second major IPO in 2025, following Almoosa Health ’s debut yesterday. Institutional offerings were 139.4x times oversubscribed. The final pricing of SAR 35 per share will give the company a market cap of over SAR 4 bn at listing, and SAR 1.2 bn in proceeds.

#2- Hafar Al Batin Investment Forum 2025 to begin today: The Hafar Al Batin Investment Forum 2025 will kick-off today in the University of Hafar Al Batin in the Eastern Province, state-owned agency SPA reports. It will see the participation of 24 governmental and private entities, aiming at investment opportunities and sustainable development in Hafar Al Batin.

#3- Supercopa de España semi finals kick off today at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah. All matches start at 10pm. Here’s the schedule:

  • Real Madrid vs. Mallorca (today);
  • Athletic Club vs. Barcelona (tomorrow);
  • Final match (Sunday, 12 January).

⚠️WEATHER UPDATE- Rain continues to sweep across the Kingdom today. In Riyadh, expect a high of 18°C and a low of 11°C, while Madinah will hit 19°C, and also drop to 11°C. Over in Dammam, things will warm up to 21°C before cooling down to 14°C.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Riyad Bank’s additional tier 1 capital sukuk issuance kicked off yesterday, with the bank beginning to receive subscriptions, according to a disclosure to Tadwul. The SAR-denominated, perpetual offering — part of a SAR 10 bn sukuk program — is being carried out via private placement, targeting institutional and qualified investors. Subscription will wrap up on 16 January.

The details: Investors can subscribe to the issuance at a minimum of SAR 250k of sukuk each. The size and yield of the offering are set to be determined based on market conditions. The lender’s investment and asset management arm Riyad Capital was tapped earlier this week as the sole lead manager for the offering.

#2- Saudi Arabia and Qatar are reportedly discussing mutual listings on the stock exchanges of both countries, AleIqtisadiah reports, citing anonymous sources. Discussions also probed forming strategic partnerships between companies from both countries.

#3- Tadawul-listed HR companies must now meet the HR Ministry’s updated domestic worker quotas, according to statements from various companies to Tadawul (here, here, and here).

The details: The new rules mandate that companies with fewer than 3k workers must have 30% domestic workers, those with 3k-10k must have 20%, 10k-15k must have 10%, and companies with over 15k workers are no longer required to maintain a specific percentage.

#4- PIF-backed Lucid Motors has become the first global automaker to bear the “Made in Saudi” badge, after joining the program, it said in a post on Linkedin. The move comes as the luxury EV maker prepares to ramp up production at its King Abdullah Economic City facility, set to roll out 155k EVs annually at full capacity.

ICYMI- Lucid exceeded expectations in 4Q, with vehicle deliveries growing 78% y-o-y to 3.1k vehicles, Reuters reports. Production surged 42% to 3.4k vehicles during the quarter. Lucid is scheduled to release its 4Q results on Tuesday, 25 February.

#5- The PIF-backed LIV Gold league is making its way back to Trump National Doral in April 2025, marking the first event held at a Trump property during Donald Trump’s presidency, the New York Times reports. The USD 2 bn PIF-sponsored tournament has been a regular partner of Trump properties since its launch in 2021.

IN CONTEXT- The arrangement is one of many business partnerships between the Kingdom and Trump’s business empire, extending beyond golf into real estate, with projects in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dubai in partnership with Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan.

DATA POINT-

Consumer spending via point-of-sale transactions in the Kingdom grew 9.2% w-o-w for the week ending 4 January at SAR 15.1 bn, according to the Saudi Central Bank’s (Sama) weekly POS report (pdf). Meanwhile, the number of transactions was up 6.1% at 224.9 mn.

The breakdown: Beverages and food saw the highest spending during the week, growing 3.9% w-o-w at SAR 2.2 bn, followed by restaurants and cafes at SAR 2.1 bn, up 10.1%. Meanwhile, Riyadh had the highest value of PoS transactions at SAR 5.1 bn, followed by Jeddah at SAR 2.1 bn.

OIL WATCH-

Opec sees production dip in December, driven by UAE cuts: Opec’s crude output dropped in December by 120k bbl / d to 27.05 mn bbl / d, primarily on the back of supply cuts from the UAE, according to a Bloomberg survey. The UAE slashed its production to about 3.2 mn bbl / d and trimmed oil exports to an 18-month low. The decline in these allocations is expected to continue throughout January and February, companies set to receive the shipments told Bloomberg.

REMEMBER- State-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) reportedly decreased crude oil cargo allocations for certain Asian customers, cutting volumes by up to 230k bbl / d across various grades, in a bid to adhere to Opec+’s strategy to stabilize market prices. A plan to hike the UAE’s quota by an additional 300k bbl/d was also postponed to April 2025, after Opec+ decided to delay a planned increase in production last month. The UAE has been hoping to increase its capacity, and is on track to hit its 5 mn barrels per day (bbl / d) oil capacity target — originally set for 2027 — by the end of 2025 or early 2026.

SPORTS-

#1- Saudi Arabia will host the next Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup on 7 January 2027, state news agency SPA reports. The tournament, which wraps up on February 5, will take place across eight stadiums in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Khobar, including King Fahd Sports City Stadium in Riyadh and King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah.

#2- Riyadh will host the 39th WWE Royal Rumble in January 2026, part of Riyadh Season, marking the first time the event is held outside of North America, according to a statement. The WWE flagship event will be organized in collaboration with Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

It’s a busy morning in the foreign press, with a wide-ranging press conference from US president-elect Donald Trump, along with updates on the latest round of Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks, and news from Meta, Nvidia, and Anthropic getting plenty of ink.

#1- More threats of tariffs and annexation from Trump: Trump said he could use economic — and possibly military — action to acquire Greenland and take control of the Panama Canal, threatening to tariff Denmark “at a very high level” if it refuses, and separate tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which it also said it could annex through “economic force.” Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to X later to say “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” in response to Trump’s comments.

Trump also revealed a USD 20 bn investment planned by Emirati developer Damac Properties in US data centers, saying Damac’s founder Hussain Sajwani was inspired by Trump’s election to make the commitment. Sajwani said he’d been waiting four years to ramp up investments in the US.

The press conference got a lot of ink: FT | Reuters | NPR | AP | CNN

#2- Also from Trump Land, his new Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said he is “hopeful” for some good news from the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks taking place in Doha before Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, Reuters quotes him as saying. Trump again threatened that “all hell will break out in the Middle East" if Hamas does not release the hostages by the time he takes office during his presser.

PLUS- Several stories on the tech and AI front are making the rounds:

  • Facebook owner Meta shelved a US fact-checking program and curbed restrictions on discussions around contentious topics on its platforms in response to pressure from conservatives. (Reuters)
  • Nvidia’s shares slid 6.2% after an unveiling of a new product lineup — including a new USD 3k desktop PC — failed to reassure investors about a near-term return. (Bloomberg)
  • AI startup Anthropic is closing in on a USD 2 bn investment that would value it at USD 60 bn, only two months after securing an additional USD 4 bn investment from ecommerce giant Amazon. (WSJ)
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