Good morning, friends. Investment news leads today’s news well, after Saudi Arabia and Russia announced their target to boost investment and trade over the coming few years. We also have an update on what the SpaceX IPO means for Saudi investors.

Riyadh Air is living the dream

Riyadh Air has received its first two commercial Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, according to a statement on X. The PIF-owned carrier will use its new commercial aircraft to prepare for its official rollout on 1 July, starting with its route to London Heathrow. This delivery is the first of a planned fleet of 72 Dreamliners.

ALSO- The airline has also teamed up with Air India, signing a strategic MoU that unlocks a web of codeshare and interline arrangements to make international travel feel effortless, according to a joint press release (pdf). The two airlines are set to also collaborate on loyalty programs, cargo services, operations, and digital initiatives to enhance the guest experience.

REMEMBER- This is part of a plan by Riyadh Air to integrate one Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner into its fleet each month and launch two new destinations every two months, reaching 100 cities by 2030.

But the environment has not been cooperative: Regional instability and significant delays have derailed the airline’s launch, and attacks on civilian infrastructure are impacting the aviation industry as the US-Iran conflict remains unresolved. Most recently, an attack on Kuwait’s main airport caused one death, dozens of injuries, and extensive damage.

Aramco makes McDermott a PMC

McDermott takes a seat at Aramco’s PMC table: Aramco tapped US-based McDermott Nederland as one of 11 contractors under a long-term project management consultancy (PMC) agreement covering energy, downstream, petrochemical, and low-carbon projects across the Kingdom, it said in a press release. The multi-year mandate includes engineering services, pre-feed and feed work, and broader project management consultancy support.

A local co-pilot for the job: The agreement formalizes a partnership between McDermott and Saudi engineering firm Solutions Leaders Fayez Engineering (SLFE), an Aramco-approved contractor. Under the arrangement, projects will be delivered through a combined in-Kingdom and out-of-Kingdom execution model, with SLFE providing local engineering and client support while McDermott leads overall project execution and technical delivery.

Why it matters: Aramco is making localization part of the cost of entry. Global contractors can still bring the expertise, but they're increasingly expected to share the work with Saudi engineering firms and expand their footprint in the Kingdom.

Egypt’s Thndr lands in Saudi next year

Egypt-based digital investment platform Thndr plans to launch operations in Saudi Arabia by early 2027, CEO Ahmed Hammouda told the Arabic press on the sidelines of the company’s annual keynote. The startup had already secured the preliminary green light to step into the Saudi market.

Why this matters: The Saudi market seems well-suited for Thndr, especially considering the size of its youthful demographic and the rapid adoption of investing amid market reforms and demand from younger people — Hammouda told EnterpriseAM Egypt last year. The number of retail investors is on the rise in the Kingdom, with the number of individual investors on Tadawul rising by 556k to around 7.2 mn by the end of 2025.

Big changes are happening at Thndr. The company has just announced a pivot from being a stock-trading app to offering more integrated wealth management.

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.

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The big story abroad

Geopolitical updates lead today’s news cycle. Washington is reportedly considering seizing Iranian assets to fund repairs for damage sustained by Gulf nations during Tehran’s recent strikes. The nature of the assets under consideration remains unclear.

How are talks going? US-Iran negotiations are currently at a deadlock, Iranian presidential adviser Mohsen Rezaei told CNN. A peace agreement depends on the US unfreezing USD 24 bn in Iranian assets, Rezaei said.

It could be a while before we see SpaceX on the S&P 500: S&P Dow Jones Indices will reportedly maintain a rule that bars unprofitable companies from joining the S&P 500, potentially delaying the inclusion of SpaceX, whose IPO is expected to raise a record USD 75 bn.The company may not list on the index until after 2027, when it is expected to turn a net income according to Evercore ISI research analysts. IPO-hopefuls Anthropic and OpenAI will also face similar fates.

There’s more: Investors based in China and Hong Kong are reportedly unable to access SpaceX’s website and IPO documents. The block is believed to be the result of a company decision.

In the world of M&A: A consortium led by France’s Bouygues Telecom will take over legacy French operator SFR for around EUR 20.4 bn, taking it off Altice France’s hands. The proposed carve-out, if approved, will trim the number of mobile network operators in France down to three.

And crypto is in dire straits: Cryptocurrency is facing a “very hard” year ahead of an anticipated mass exodus of developers, projects, and capital, according to Charles Hoskinson, founder of blockchain platform Cardano. BTC’s 17% drop so far in June is a two-year low — the cryptocurrency fell below USD 60k at one point last Friday.

Are wealth managers the latest victim of AI automation? Bloomberg is out with a piece that finds traditional wealth managers are more vulnerable to AI-induced replacement than other financial services professionals. It seems that a growing number of people are resorting to programs like Claude to manage their money for them, which bodes ill for wealth advisers the world over.