Neom will spend SAR 60 bn on contract termination

Good morning, friends, and happy Tuesday. Saudi capital is fanning out across the region and at home this morning, even with the Iran-Israel conflict keeping everyone on edge. Abyat is rolling out a USD 2 bn housing project in Damascus, Alrajhi is adding another mega-redevelopment in Makkah, and the Sports Ministry just put five more football clubs on the block.

ALSO- The property market is wrestling with a supply problem CBRE says won’t ease anytime soon, from full-to-bursting Riyadh offices to a shortage of modern warehouse space. Over in dealmaking, local unicorn Ninja is reportedly circling Delivery Hero’s Middle East portfolio.

BUT FIRST- A reminder of the backdrop: Al Kharj residents were briefly told to seek shelter on Sunday after the Civil Defense triggered an emergency alert via the National Early Warning Platform. The moment quickly passed, however, with a follow-up broadcast announcing shortly after that the threat had been cleared.

The Defense Ministry confirmed that the missile was launched from Yemen and targeted a country in the region, but suffered a malfunction and veered off course. It crashed in an empty area near the Saudi-Yemeni border. Reports that the missile targeted Prince Sultan Air Base are false, the ministry said.

The cost of walking away

Neom reportedly plans to spend more on canceling contracts over the next five years than on new works. The project’s 2026-2030 budget includes SAR 60 bn (USD 16 bn) for contractor termination payouts and penalty clauses, unnamed sources told Semafor. Spending on new infrastructure will reach SAR 40 bn, mainly earmarked for Oxagon’s industrial city and utilities. Neom did not respond to our requests for comment as of this writing.

Why this matters: It’s a strategic retreat toward projects that can deliver immediate foreign investment. The cancellation costs represent over a third of the projected 2026 budget deficit, put at SAR 165.4 bn early in the year. 1Q’s budget deficit already neared this number, standing at SAR 125.7 bn.

REMEMBER- The government has been scrapping a few Neom-gigaproject-related contracts following a comprehensive review after years of delays, design challenges, and cost overruns. Scrapped projects include multi-bn-USD contracts to build a freshwater lake at Trojena and a USD 1 bn tunneling contract at Neom’s The Line.

Is LIV Golf’s funding drying up?

The Public Investment Fund’s remaining LIV Golf funding may not be enough to cover the 2026 season in full, Front Office Sports reports. The league’s cancellation of its New Orleans tournament and the 47-day gap until its next scheduled event reportedly raised concerns about the stability of the calendar and the durability of the fund’s backing.

What’s the situation now? LIV currently receives funding from the PIF every month and is still operating on the assumption that those payments will continue through the season, an unnamed league source told the news outlet. CEO Scott O’Neill said the league has begun reaching out to prospective partners as it looks to attract new investments.

The league is gearing up for its revamped LIV 2.0 model, which could reportedly involve fewer events, a stronger emphasis on team majors, and lower prizes than the current USD 32.3 mn level. It’s also tightening its financials, monitoring travel spending, and ending costly app features.

ICYMI- The PIF pulled the plug on the breakaway golf league it bankrolled for four years, as it no longer matches its investment strategy, after its total commitment amounted to USD 5 bn back in December. LIV Golf was reportedly exploring a US bankruptcy filing as a worst-case scenario if its search for new capital falls short.

Gulf airlines losing altitude?

Middle Eastern airlines are expected to swing to a collective USD 4.3 bn loss in 2026 — making the region’s airline market the only one expected to slip into the red this year, according to the IATA.

The downturn reflects pressure across the entire operating chain — airspace closures, flight cancellations, longer routings, weaker connecting traffic, and sharply higher fuel costs. IATA expects regional passenger demand to decline 11.4%, while capacity is projected to contract 4.4%.

Gulf carriers depend heavily on east-west transfer flows through Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi, which makes lost connectivity more expensive than a normal demand dip.

IN CONTEXT- Gulf carriers’ reliance on east-west transfer traffic through hubs such as Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi means disruptions to connectivity can have an outsized impact on earnings. While that has created a near-term opening for rivals including IAG, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, and Cathay Pacific on long-haul routes linking Asia and Africa, Bloomberg cites industry executives as saying that the shift in demand is likely to prove temporary as Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad restore capacity and passengers return to their usual transit options.

Al Modawat gets closer to Tadawul

Al Modawat Specialized Medical Co. tapped Deloitte’s audit and assurance arm Deloitte & Touche to provide financial due diligence services as it prepares to migrate its shares to Tadawul from parallel market Nomu, according to a disclosure.

REMEMBER- The company announced its plans to transition to the main market in June last year after listing on Nomu back in 2024 with a 20% stake. It previously tapped Estidamah Capital as a financial advisor to manage the move to Tadawul.

From Russia with love

Saudi Arabia and Russia have signed 13 agreements and MoUs totalling SAR 4.8 bn to strengthen the Kingdom’s food security and boost localization, the Saudi Press Agency reports. The agreements cover the localization of veterinary vaccines, securing livestock feed, and the export of Saudi fish, camel milk, and coffee.

Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia and Russia set a target of USD 1.46 bn in Russian investments over the next five years. Bilateral trade is projected to reach USD 12 bn over the period, a significant increase from the USD 3.9 bn recorded between 2022 and 2026.

Data point

1.95 mn — that’s the number of vehicles Saudi Arabia imported over 2024/2025, according to data from the Zakat, Tax, and Customs Authority cited by Saudi Gazette. The Kingdom maintains its position in the top 20 automotive markets globally.

You’ve spent decades building wealth, and the question now isn’t how to make money — it’s how to make sure it survives you, works across borders, and doesn’t quietly erode while you’re not looking. The rules have changed. Egyptian real estate, once a near-guaranteed store of value, is competing with markets in Greece, Spain, and Dubai.

Whether it’s art as an asset, crowd-funding, or the tax implications quietly stacking up behind that second passport, the toolkit for serious capital deployment has expanded faster than most conventional advice — or most advisors — have.

In Issue 3 of EnterpriseAM Money Matters, we cover the decisions that matter most when you’re at the stage where capital preservation is just as important as capital growth — and where getting it wrong is no longer something you can simply recover from.

Tap or click here to subscribe to the Egypt edition, delivered to your inbox on Wednesday, 10 June.

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The big story abroad

Regional tensions have eased after Iran and Israel said attacks will stop for now, but both countries warned that they are ready to launch retaliatory attacks if provoked. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Tel Aviv’s operations against Iranian-backed Hezbollah will continue.

SpaceX’s upcoming IPO continues to make headlines, becoming heavily oversubscribed as institutional investors place USD 10 bn worth of orders. The IPO is set to price on 11 June and start trading the following session.

Another anticipated IPO is making waves: OpenAI has confidentially filed for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company is yet to decide on a timetable for the listing, but unnamed sources have said the company could go public as soon as this fall.

Introducing Siri AI: Apple has unveiled a new phase for its voice assistant Siri, overhauling the program with AI, steering it closer to chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude. The tech giant says its commitment to privacy and data protection is key in differentiating its AI offerings from its rivals. A beta version will be available next month before a full launch in the fall.

Meanwhile, in Washington: A judge has ruled as unlawful an attempt by the Trump administration to levy a USD 100k fee on H-1B visa applications — widely used by tech companies and specialized industries to hire foreign workers. The Department of Justice is expected to appeal the decision.

Chinese firms in the hot seat: The Pentagon has accused three Chinese firms — Alibaba Group, BYD, and Baidu — of aiding China’s armed forces. The companies have been listed as “Chinese military companies” that pose a national security risk to the US.