Andalus Properties subsidiary buys land plot to develop logistics warehouses

Alandalus Property is moving into logistics: The firm’s wholly owned subsidiary Marafiq Alandalus Allujistiyah has bought a 44.55k sqm plot in Al Mashael district for SAR 83.8 mn, including taxes and brokerage fees, to develop logistics warehouses, according to a Tadawul filing. The move is part of the company’s 2026-2030 strategy to diversify into logistics, and will be funded from its own resources or bank facilities. Alandalus expects it to show up in its 4Q 2026 financials. The filing doesn’t say what the warehouses will cost, how much space they’ll hold, or when they’ll open.

Riyadh is short on quality space. Industrial occupancy in the capital hit 98% in 1H 2025, with rents up 16% y-o-y to an average SAR 208 per sqm, according to Knight Frank. Some businesses are pausing their entry into Saudi because they “refuse to settle for subpar Grade B assets,” Knight Frank’s Adam Wynne told us in January.

REMEMBER- Al Mashael already has a DP World warehouse: DP World opened its first multi-user Saudi warehouse there in July, a 15.25k sqm facility with more than 17k pallet positions.

Vrtx raises seed round

Vrtx raised USD 3.6 mn in pre-seed funding to build embedded-finance infrastructure in the Kingdom, with backing from SC Ventures, Sadu Capital, BYLD, Suhail Ventures, F6 Ventures, TAZ Investment and Palm Ventures, according to a statement. The fintech also received in-principle approval from the Saudi Central Bank (Sama) for an Electronic Money Institution licence, a step that would let it operate inside the regulatory perimeter.

About the company: Founded by former Tweeq employees Mishal Bin Slimah (LinkedIn) and Omar Shaaban (LinkedIn), the Riyadh-based platform bundles digital wallets, payouts, card issuing, transfers and transaction processing, letting businesses launch financial products without building the rails themselves.

WWE’s USD 150 mn Riyadh payday

WWE could collect USD 150 mn to stage WrestleMania 43 in Riyadh next April, nearly three times the USD 55 mn it gets for each of its regular Saudi shows, WhatCulture reported citing Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio.

IN CONTEXT- WWE’s Saudi partnership dates back to 2018 and has brought Crown Jewel, Elimination Chamber and Royal Rumble to the Kingdom. WrestleMania 43 will be the first held outside North America.

Qassim Cement buys A-Mix outright

Qassim Cement now owns all of A-Mix after completing its acquisition of the company’s shares, according to a Tadawul filing. The transaction cleared the General Authority for Competition’s no-objection review earlier this month.

The buyout comes as Qassim ramps up: It recently secured a SAR 400 mn financing agreement from the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, alongside other facilities, to add production lines and expand.

OpenAI caper moving through court

A federal judge in California denied bail to an OpenAI employee accused of planting a recording device in the company’s offices. The FBI arrested Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national, last week after a security team allegedly found the device hidden in toilet paper behind a TV in an executive meeting room at OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco. Prosecutors allege Alfozan has ties to officials in the Kingdom.