Big tennis win for the Kingdom

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

USD 3 bn Saudi investment program for Iraq + Saudi eyes distressed Chinese real estate companies

Good morning, friends, and welcome to the next-to-last workday of Ramadan. Like others across the Kingdom and the Muslim world, we’ll be looking skyward tomorrow evening to see the Shawwal crescent that signals the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Eid Al Fitr.

We have a meaty issue for you this morning before we send you off on vacation.

REMEMBER- Businesses will be off for Eid Al Fitr from Tuesday, 9 April, through Friday, 13 April, while banks and the stock market are from today and back on Sunday, 14 April..

PROGRAMMING NOTE- This is our only issue this week. EnterpriseAM Saudi will be off for the rest of the week for Eid — we look forward to being back in your inboxes before 7am on Sunday, 14 April. We hope you’re looking forward to a beautiful break with family and friends.

** Tap or click here to read this section with all of the links to our background stories as well as external sources.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- IPO WATCH- Riyad Capital may be on the verge of an IPO: PIF-backed lender Riyad Bank is considering the listing of its investment banking arm Riyad Capital, the Kingdom’s third largest bank by assets said in a disclosure to Tadawu l. Both Riyad Bank and Riyad Capital will conduct “an assessment and preparation including determining the size, structure and the other relevant details of the IPO,” the disclosure read without providing further details. The transaction would also require regulatory approval.

The first spin-off of its kind: An IPO would see Riyad Capital operate as a distinct unit from its parent company, making Riyad Bank the first local lender to spin-off its investment banking unit.. EFG Hermes banking analyst Shabbir Malik tells Reuters he believes the bank is pushing with a plan to monetise a unit whose value is “not [clearly] reflected at the moment.”

Who owns what? The PIF owns a 21.8% stake in Riyad Bank, while the government holds a 10.4% stake.

#2- Saudi is launching a USD 3 bn vehicle to invest in industries across Iraq. Dubbed the Saudi-Iraq Investment Co, the company will pursue transactions in the “infrastructure, mining, agriculture, real estate development and financial services” sectors. The company, announced late yesterday, mirrors similar outfits set up to pursue investment in Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, Sudan, and Jordan.

In context: Saudi in February pledged USD 1.5 bn to help Iraq rebuild, including USD 1 bn in finance through the Saudi Fund for Development and another USD 500 mn in export credit.

#3- Saudi, GCC funds eye China’s distressed real estate sector: Gulf investment funds are in talks to acquire stakes in distressed Chinese real estate developers, Aleqtisadiah reported last week, citing sources close to the matter. Investors from Saudi, Qatar, and Kuwait are in advanced talks, the newspaper writes, saying the transactions could prove interesting entry points into the massive Chinese market.

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are already there: They joined a consortium of investors led by Hong Kong-based private equity giant PAG in February for a USD 8.3 bn investment in the mall unit of Chinese property giant Dalian Wanda, taking a 60% stake.

BACKGROUND- The Chinese real estate sector has been hit by crises since the pandemic after a liquidity crunch triggered by a regulatory crackdown on high leverage among developers. Housing starts — a measure of new residential construction — fell by over 60% in comparison with pre-pandemic levels, with sales taking a hit on concerns that developers will not be able to complete projects due to a lack in funding, according to the IMF in February.

#4- STC Pay is turning into a digital bank: Saudi Telecom’s e-wallet business STC Pay received Saudi Central Bank (Sama) approval to transition into a digital bank and will brand itself as STC Bank, it said in a post on X last week. The beta launch will see a number of selected users’ digital wallets upgraded into a full-service bank accounts. STC Bank will offer Shariah-compliant banking services and solutions to its clients, with a full launch of the digital bank planned this year, according to the statement.

About STC Pay: Established in 2018, STC Pay became the first Sama-licensed fintech company, emerging to become the GCC’s largest e-wallet with 12 mn customers. It recently obtained Sama’s approval to turn into a digital bank.

#5- Aramco, and Shell are going head-to-head in negotiations for Temasek’s Pavilion Energy LNG assets, Reuters reported last week. The interest in the assets, which could bring in over USD 2 bn, comes as Aramco looks to increase its exposure to LNG after marking its entry into the business with a minority stake acquisition in MidOcean Energy last year. Aramco wants to boost its total natgas production by over 60% by 2030.

#6- Five investors were hit with SAR 44.9 mn in fines and orders for repayment after an appeals committee by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) upheld a finding they had engaged in insider trading in the listing of Watani Steel, the market watchdog said in a statement. The CMA said four of the investors executed a number of transactions before and after the listing of Watani Steel, raising their ownership in the steel producer without a required disclosure to Tadawul and shareholders. The fifth investor was also engaged in influencing the company’s share price on WhatsApp.

OIL WATCH-

Aramco has hiked the official selling price (OSP) of its flagship Arab Light crude oil to Asian buyers in May, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing a price list it has seen. The oil giant raised OSP for Asian buyers by USD 0.3 to USD 2.00 premium to the Oman/Dubai average. The raise, which is the second consecutive for the grade, beat expectations of a USD 0.1 hike forecast by refiners and traders earlier. It comes amid tighter Middle Eastern crude markets, OPEC+ voluntary production cuts and an increased consumption by several producers in the region. Reuters also had coverage.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif is in town for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Pakistani Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Friday. This is Sharif’s first foreign visit since he was reelected PM in March.

REMEMBER- Saudi has been among key backers of the crisis-hit Pakistan, which is struggling from depleted foreign reserves. The Kingdom has extended the term of a USD 3 bn in deposit at the State Bank of Pakistan for an additional year, maturing in December this year. The country also received last year USD 2 bn in financial assistance from the Kingdom to shore up finances.

** So, when do we eat? Maghrib prayers are at 6:12pm in Riyadh and you have until 4:18 am to hydrate and caffeinate ahead of fajr.

WEATHER THIS WEEK-Look for a mix of showers and thunderstorms in the capital city through Wednesday evening.

DATA POINTS-

#1- Some 20 mn worshipers visited Madinah during the first three weeks of Ramadan, Arab News reported yesterday, citing official data.

#2- More than SAR 664 mn worth of zakat has been transferred through the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (Zatca)’s e-service Zakaty since its launch in 2017, Zatca said in a statement on Friday.

PSAs-

#1- Miners can apply to the Industry and Mineral Resources Ministry’s Exploration and Enablement Program (EEP) until 31 May, the ministry said in a post on X on Friday. The news comes after the ministry unveiled fresh incentives worth SAR 685 mn to boost mineral exploration here. The program is being rolled out in collaboration with the Investment Ministry and aims to reduce early-stage risk for exploration companies. Miners can apply through the Taadeen platform, with awardees set to be announced by the end of July this year.

#2- The Interior Ministry is rolling out a 50% reduction in traffic fines incurred before Thursday, 18 April, it said in a statement on X last week. It said motorists should pay accumulated fines within six months to benefit from the initiative.

#3- New rules for contracts with domestic workers: The Human Resources and Social Development Ministry has introduced a new initiative aimed at regulating contractual arrangements for domestic workers, it said in a statement last week. The new regulations center on termination of employment for staff who go AWOL within the the first two years of their arrival in Saudi.

SPORTS-

WHISPERS- Romelu Lukaku could be the latest addition to the Saudi Pro League: Chelsea FC Chairman and American bn’aire Todd Boehly has been in talks to sell the striker, currently on loan at Roma, to a Saudi Pro League club during the upcoming summer transfer window, according to Belgian reports picked up by Asharq Al Awsat. Boehly met with local officials in March in a bid to offload some Chelsea players to the Kingdom.

⚽ This weekend’s matches:

Damac vs. Al-Nassr (0-1);
Al-Khaleej vs. Al-Hilal (1-4);
Al-Ittihad vs. Al-Taawoun (0-0);
Al-Wehda vs. Al-Ahli(1-1);
Al-Tai vs. Al-Shabab (0-0);
Al-Ettifaq vs. Al-Riyadh (1-0).

Tonight’s matches (all scheduled for 9pm, not 10pm as has been the case throughout Ramadan):

Al-Raed vs. Al-Hazm;
Abha vs. Al Faleh;
Al Feiha vs. Al Akhdoud.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

The news cycle has pivoted on AI as coverage tilts further toward the “doomer” end of the spectrum — or, at the very least, becomes more critical of the technology. Two pieces worth your time:

#1- AI keeps going wrong. What if it can’t be fixed? in the Financial Times, wherein Henry Mance, the salmon-colored paper’s chief features writer, talks to critics who say that AI “is simply flawed.”

#2-How tech giants cut corners to harvest data for AI, in which the New York Times writes that OpenAI, Google, and Meta have “ignored corporate policies, altered their own rules and discussed skirting copyright law as they sought online information to train their newest artificial intelligence systems.”

The US presidential election is slowly heating up. The latest from the campaign trail came overnight, as President Joe Biden announced a USD 100 mn fundraising advantage over Donald Trump hours before Agent Orange was scheduled to hold a fundraiser. Biden is claiming the most cash on hand “of any Democratic candidate in history.”

Also making the rounds: The WSJ wonders where Tesla went wrong and whether it can “get its mojo back”.

AND- US, China agree to discuss working towards “balanced growth”: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng agreed to hold “extensive exchanges on balanced growth in the domestic and global economies,” a Treasury statement said. The development comes as part of efforts to rebalance trade relations between the two and address US concerns about excess manufacturing capacity in China. Reuters has more.

WATCH THIS SPACE- A total eclipse of the sun will sweep across parts of North America tomorrow. Mns of people will see the midafternoon sky go dark as the moon passes between Earth and the sun.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Gulf Film Festival (GFF) will open from Sunday, 14 April till Thursday, 18 April in Riyadh. Organized by the Film Commission in cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) General Secretariat, the five-day event will showcase a selection of 29 films from across the region. It will also include three training workshops and six educational seminars focused on fostering artistic dialogue and raising awareness of cinema's social impact.

Automechanika Riyadh will open on Tuesday, 30 April till Thursday, 2 May at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center. The annual trade fair will showcase the automotive industry’s latest advances and innovations.

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Will Neom slowing down the buildout of The Line?

Officials may be looking to slow the pace at which they’re building out The Line, a cornerstone of the USD 500 bn Neom development, Bloomberg reported last week, citing sources it says have knowledge of the matter. The discussion comes as the Public Investment Fund (PIF) is yet to approve Neom’s budget for this year, they said.

The crux of it: Neom’s flagship project The Line — which is projected to cost anywhere between USD 100 bn to USD 200 bn — is now expected to be home to less than 300k people by the end of 2030, down from an initial forecast of 1.5 mn residents, one of the sources said. A slowdown in construction could see only 2.4 km of the 170-km The Line completed by the end of the decade, the source said. This has pushed at least one of the contractors working on the project to layoff some of the workers on site, according to a document seen by Bloomberg.

A very selective slowdown? The sources said work is progressing on other parts of the sprawling Neom gigaproject, with its luxury island destination Sindalah set to open its doors to visitors sometime this year. Regular readers of EnterpriseAM Saudi will have read a drumbeat of announcements this year about progress at Oxagon, Neom’s industrial hub.

** Tap or click here to read this story with all of the links to our background stories as well as external sources.

This may have been in the works for a while: The government hinted in December that it could strategically slow down the execution of some of its economic transformation projects, seeing some conclude past their initial 2030 deadlines. “Certain projects can be expanded for three years — so it’s 2033 — some will be expanded to 2035, some will be expanded even beyond that and some will be rationalized,” Finance Minister Mohamed Al Jadaan said at the annual budget forum.

ALSO- Officials don’t want government borrowing to soak up liquidity the private sector needs to grow. Access to debt for both private companies and citizens is key to growth, Al Jadaan suggested at the time, noting that the government has no interest in crowding them out. Policymakers have also considered the delay in terms of how much international debt the Kingdom wants to take on, emphasizing the need to stay below a sustainable debt ceiling measured against both GDP and non-oil GDP, the minister added.

REMEMBER- The government will need to line up USD 640 bn to fund its construction pipeline, just for the next 5 years, squeezing local lenders for USD 384 bn if they are to take up 60% of the pipeline, Bloomberg reported last month, citing data compiled by Dubai-based analysis firm MEED.

Riyadh secures hosting rights for WTA Finals

An ace for Saudi: Riyadh will host the WTA tennis finals from 2024-2026, the WTA said in a statement last week, ending months of speculation on the fate of the women’s tennis flagship tour event after some in the tennis industry mounted a campaign against Saudi's bid for the rights. The WTA said it picked Riyadh “following a comprehensive evaluation process over several months, which has included assessment of multiple bids from different regions and engagement with players.”

What we know: The tournament, which will run from 2-9 November in Riyadh, will feature the top women singles players as well as doubles matchups with a record purse of USD 15.25 mn on offer. That figure is set to grow for both the 2025 and 2026 editions; Riyadh replaces last year’s host Cancun, which had offered a total purse of USD 9 mn.

** Tap or click here to read this story with all of the links to our background stories as well as external sources.

A “defining moment”: “To have a women's tournament of this magnitude and profile is a defining moment for tennis in Saudi Arabia. The WTA Finals has the power to inspire far beyond the sport, especially for our young girls and women,” Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal Al Saud told Reuters after the announcement.

And that’s not all: The Saudi Tennis Federation and the WTA will partner to develop multi-year initiatives to help boost the sport here.

It’s been a long road: Saudi hosting this year’s final comes after a wave of criticism in the past months from critics who said that the Kingdom was engaged in “sportswashing.” Critics were led by retired tennis icons Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. The opposition drew a smart reply from Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, the Kingdom’s ambassador to Washington. Princess Reema said Evert and Navratilova’s opposition was “based on arguments that are outdated stereotypes and western-centric views of our culture.”

Everyone’s welcome: “Everyone will be made to feel extremely welcome. Our country is moving forward. Much has been achieved already and many historic steps taken by women in all sectors in recent years, with sport driving much of the progress across our entire society. So, we have real momentum and hosting the world’s best tennis players in Riyadh will only accelerate our transformation and help grow the game further,” STF President Arij Muhtabagani said.

BACKGROUND- The Public Investment Fund (PIF) signed a “multi-year strategic partnership” with the men’s ATP Tour in February to become the official naming partner of ATP rankings and partner in ATP Tour events, including Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing, and Italy’s Nitto ATP Finals. It also includes the Next Gen ATP Finals, which Jeddah will host until 2027.

AND- Six of the world’s top-ranked men’s tennis players will be in town in October to compete in the first-ever “Six Kings Slam.” Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev, and Holger Rune will all be here for the tournament in Riyadh. Nadal was named ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation recently.

Yaqeen Capital to debut a 20% stake on Nomu in early May 2024

Yaqeen Capital is going public on Nomu in a secondary share sale. The Riyadh-based advisor, brokerage house, and asset manager is preparing to float a 20% stake on the Tadawul’s parallel market, according to a prospectus (pdf). No price range has been set for the offering yet.

In context: Yaqeen is itself a top advisor to other companies going public on Nomu.

The timeline:

Qualified Investors can place their orders starting Sunday, 5 April 2024, until Monday, 12 May, with each investor allowed to buy a minimum of 10 shares and a maximum of 750k shares;
The final share allocation is slated for Wednesday, 15 May;
Excess funds, if any, will be returned no later than Tuesday, 21 May.

Use of proceeds + substantial shareholders: Proceeds from the transaction will go to Falcom Holding Company, which will hold a 40% stake after the sale. The second substantial shareholder is fully owned by Flacom Holding, giving it an effective 80% stake after the offering wraps up. Falcom owns other non-bank financial services companies, its website shows.

Lock-up period: Substantial shareholders will not be able to execute any transactions on their shares for a period of 12 months starting from the first trading day.

The latest results in a nutshell: The company’s net income grew 9x y-o-y to SAR 38.2 mn in 2023, despite revenues falling 18.6% y-o-y to SAR 77.8 mn, according to its latest earnings release (pdf).

STRONG IPO PIPELINE

We have a solid IPO pipeline for Tadawul’s main market taking shape for this year:

eXtra is looking to sell 30% of its highly profitable consumer finance arm;
hotels and resorts operator Boudl has filed to go public;
Labor agency Smasco is in the chute;
Water treatment company Miahona has gotten approval for an offering of 30% of its shares;
Dr Soliman Abdul Kader Fakeeh Hospital (DSFH) got clearance last week to go public;
Fourth Milling Company will list before the end of June;
Singapore’s Olam Group is mulling the IPO of its Olam Agri subsidiary on Tadawul;
Hypermarket operator Lulu is said to be eyeing a dual listing on Tadawul and ADX;
Aster DM Healthcare looks set to spin-off its GCC assets and seek a dual listing on Tadawul and in the UAE.

The Nomu pipeline also looks deep and includes medical supplies outfit Qomel, Riyadh-based construction and mining firm Mohammed Hadi Al-Rasheed, Leaf Global Environmental Services, petroleum derivatives manufacturer Petrol Naas, Arabian United Float Glass, and Gas Arabian Services (GAS).

BACKGROUND- Tadawul had a good 1Q. Regional broadcaster MBC made its debut in January in a USD 222 IPO on the main market, followed by Modern Mills and Avalon Pharma.

ADVISORS- Alinma Investment is quarterbacking the transaction as the sole lead manager and financial advisor. Meanwhile, Receiving agents include SNB Capital, Riyadh Capital, Saudi Fransi Capital, AlJazira Capital, Albilad Capital, Yaqeen Capital, ANB Capital, Alistithmar Capital, Derayah, and Alrajhi Capital.

Tennis and Neom lead the conversation on Saudi in the global press this morning

It’s a brisk morning for Saudi in in the global business press, with two stories driving the conversation.

#1- Tennis after the Kingdom snagged the rights to host the Women’s Tennis Association global finals for the next three years with an offer of a record USD 15.25 mn purse. The story is getting coverage everywhere from the Independent and the Financial Times to the Associated Press and the BBC.

#2- Neom after Bloomberg report that the planners have scaled back their estimate for how many people will live in The Line by 2030. The new figure, the business information service says, is a bit under 300k compared to the original 1.5 mn, suggesting a slower buildout. The story has legs, having been picked up by Business Insider. Bloomberg is also suggesting that the Kingdom's USD 100 bn foreign investment target may take a bit longer to hit — and that (hardly shocking) high oil prices are key to Saudi’s economic diversification program.

AND- A bit from Planet Startup and AI. The Information, the California-based tech daily, picks up on the Public Investment Fund’s plan for a world-scale fund to invest in AI as well as a push to have startups establish a direct presence in Saudi.

ADES + Arabian Drilling to suspend several offshore rigs here

ENERGY-

#1- Egypt-born oil and gas drilling company Ades Holding has pulled the plug on five of its 33 offshore jack-up rigs in Saudi, the Tadawul-listed firm said in a statement (pdf) last week. The suspension, which covers a maximum duration of 12 months, will allow rigs the flexibility to complete terms of new deployments before returning to service here. One of the suspended rigs will be deployed in Thailand starting the second half of 2024, while another will be set for a deployment within the region, Ades said, without providing further details.

#2- Tadawul-listed leading drilling contractor Arabian Drilling is in talks with Aramco to suspend three of its offshore rigs in Saudi, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul last week. No further details were provided on the suspension, which could run for up to 12 months.

** Tap or click here to read this section with all of the links to our background stories as well as external sources.

DEBT WATCH-

Saudi Electricity (SEC) has redeemed its USD 1.5 bn international sukuk due tomorrow, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul last week. Some 7.5k sukuk were redeemed at a par value of USD 200k each, with trading on the Euronext Dublin-listed sukuk set to end tomorrow. The sukuk were issued by the SEC in 2014.

REMEMBER- SEC raised big in a dual-tranche sukuk offering in February: SEC raised USD 2.2 bn from the sale of dual-tranche unsecured senior sukuk in February. The sukuk will be listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). It is part of a USD-denominated green and / or conventional sukuk program kicked off in March last year and is open to qualified international and local investors.

LOGISTICS-

The Jeddah Islamic Port saw the passing of a Folk Maritime ship — the Sunset X — for the first time ever, ports authority Mawani said in a news release.

BACKGROUND- Mawani has recently added a new shipping service — NRS by Folk Maritime — to its Jeddah Islamic Port to boost connectivity along ports in the North Sea. The service, which will offer a capacity of up to 1.3k TEUs, will link Jeddah Islamic Port to Yanbu Commercial Port, Neom Port, Jordan’s Aqaba and Egypt’s Sokhna.

Africa’s private capital took a hit in 2023 amid global investment slump

Africa saw a significant dip in private capital activity in 2023, with 450 transactions worth some USD 5.9 bn, marking a 28% y-o-y decrease in volume and a 22% y-o-y decline in value, according to the African Private Capital Association’s latest private capital activity report (pdf). This marks the steepest decline in private capital volumes in over a decade, fueled by a slowdown in venture capital investments and sizable transactions, according to the report.

The value of transactions rose 35% in 2H 2023 in comparison to the first half of the year, mainly on the back of two large infrastructure projects in South Africa’s renewable energy sector, each exceeding USD 250 mn and accounting for 27% of total investment value during the period.

** Tap or click here to read this section with all of the links to our background stories as well as external sources.

Macroeconomic challenges weighed heavily: Africa grappled with soaring inflation in 2023,reaching 17.8%, its highest level in over a decade, propelled by global spikes in food and energy prices, domestic “fiscal extravagance,” disruptions in agricultural supply chains, and currency depreciations against the USD. North Africa bore the brunt of headwinds, with inflation doubling to 16.6% y-o-y.

The continent’s favorite asset class, venture capital, experienced a major slowdown, both on the continent and globally. Still, VCs contributed to 68% of total investment volume, with the financial sector taking the lead.

Exit activity also witnessed a 48% y-o-y decline in 2023, as the continent saw 42 exits in total during the year — unchanged from pre-2022 averages as 2022 marked an “outlier year for exits in Africa” — according to the report. North Africa was hit the hardest due to limited exits in Egypt, Africa’s primary exit market, while South Africa demonstrated resilience with only a 17% decline. Sales to trade buyers remained the most common exit route.

Some respite: Interim fundraising remained resilient, with Africa-focused fund managers achieving a record 40 interim closes valued at USD 3 bn, the highest to date. While overall fundraising declined for a second year, the overall trend saw larger funds take the backseat for smaller ones, which made up 65% of total closed funds, growing 1.6x in volume and 2.6x in value.

US institutional investors offload PE holdings amid liquidity concerns: Institutional investors in the US, including pension funds and endowments, are selling off private equity holdings at lower than their value to reduce exposure to illiquid assets, amidst a subdued market for traditional exits like stock listings and mergers, the Financial Times writes. Big investors sold 99% of their holdings in 2023, a marked increase from 95% in 2022 and 73% in 2021.

TASI	12,705	+0.7% (YTD: +6.2%)
MSCI Tadawul 30	1,631	+1% (YTD: +5.2%)
NomuC	26,253	+0.7% (YTD: +7%)
USD : SAR (SAMA)	3.75 Sell	3.75 Buy
Interest rates	6.5% repo	5.5% reverse repo
EGX30	28,506	+2% (YTD: +14.5%)
ADX	9,237	-0.02% (YTD: -3.6%)
DFM	4,244	-0.1% (YTD: +4.5%)
S&P 500	5,204	+1.1% (YTD: 9.1%)
FTSE 100	7,911	-0.8% (YTD: +2.3%)
Euro Stoxx 50	5,015	-1.1% (YTD: +10.9%)
Brent crude	91.2	+0.6%
Natural gas (Nymex)	1.8	+0.6%
Gold	2,330	+1.7%
BTC	68,362	+0.7% (YTD: 64.7%)

THE CLOSING BELL: TADAWUL-

The TASI rose 0.7% yesterday on turnover of SAR 7.9 bn. The index is up 6.2% YTD.

In the green: AlAkaria (+7.3%), AlKhaleej (+6.7%) and Al Arabia (+6%).

In the red: Sinad Holding (-6.1%), ADES (-5.3%) and Arabian Drilling (-4.5%).

THE CLOSING BELL: NOMU-

The NomuC rose 0.7% yesterday on turnover of SAR 42.4 mn. The index is up 7% YTD.

In the green: AlMuneef (+12.5%), NGDC (+10%) and AlModawat (+9.6%).

In the red: Paper Home (-8%), APICO (-6.2%) and Atlas Elevators (-2.3%)

CORPORATE ACTIONS-

#1- Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF)’s Board of Directors have approved a 2.9 mn share buyback and will transfer the shares it acquires to the bank’s share-based employee comp program, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul. The buyback, which will be financed from the bank’s own resources, will see shares retained as treasury shares for the employees-related program. The central bank has signed off on the move, which now requires a vote of shareholders.

#2- Shareholders of Saudi Azm for Communication and IT approved the buyback of up to 1mn shares, also for the company’s employee comp program, it said in a statement (pdf). The purchase, which will be financed from the company’s own resources, should be completed within 12 months of its approval by shareholders.

#3- The Capital Market Authority (CMA) approved renewables giant Acwa Power’s request to hike its capital by 0.2% to SAR 7.3 bn through a share issuance, it said in a statement. The increase will be paid by the transfer of SAR 14.2 mn from retained earnings to the company’s capital, increasing outstanding shares to 732.5 mn.

#4- Real estate developer Red Sea International (RSI) has asked the CMA to approve a hike in its capital through a debt conversion, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul. The RSI is planning to convert some SAR 476 mn in debt owed by the company to Al Dabbagh Group Holding and from the acquisition of the Fundamental Installation for Electric Work (First Six).

CALENDAR

APRIL

5 April (Friday): Start of Eid Al Fitr vacation for banks and stock market

8-11 April (Monday-Thursday): Saudi Super Cup, Abu Dhabi.

11-13 April (Thursday-Saturday): Eid at Ithra, Dhahran.

9 April (Tuesday): Start of Eid Al Fitr vacation for businesses

13 April (Friday): Last day of Eid Al Fitr — it’s business as usual from Saturday onward.

14-21 April (Sunday-Monday): IMF and World Bank spring meetings, Washington, DC

16 April (Tuesday): FEI World Cup Equestrian, Riyadh.

28-29 April (Sunday-Monday): World Economic Forum Special Meeting, Riyadh.

29 April-1 May: Future Hospitality Summit at Al Faisaliah Hotel, Riyadh.

30 April-2 May: Automechanika Riyadh 2024 at Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center.

MAY

2-5 May (Thursday-Sunday): Townhall Expo, Riyadh.

6-9 May (Monday-Thursday): Saudi Smart Manufacturing, Riyadh.

6-9 May (Monday-Thursday): Saudi Smart Logistics, Riyadh.

13-15 May (Monday-Wednesday): Smart Future Expo, Riyadh.

13 May (Monday): Saudi Giga Projects, Riyadh.

19-21 May (Sunday-Tuesday): Saudi Energy Convention, Riyadh.

20-21 May (Monday-Tuesday): Future Projects Forum, Four Seasons Hotel, Riyadh.

21-23 May (Tuesday-Thursday): The Saudi Food Show, Riyadh.

Signposted to happen sometime in May:

Global Trade Review (GTR): KSA
Saudi Energy Convention

JUNE

4-7 June (Tuesday-Friday): Saudi Sports Show, Riyadh.

4-7 June (Tuesday-Friday): Aqarat Expo, Riyadh.

5 June (Wednesday): World Environment Day.

14-22 June (Friday-Saturday): Banks and capital markets closed for Eid Al Adha holiday.

AUGUST

12-15 August (Monday-Thursday): The Saudi Food Expo, Riyadh

SEPTEMBER

11-12 September (Wednesday-Thursday): The Saudi Event Show, Riyadh.

17-19 September (Tuesday-Thursday): EV Auto Show, Riyadh.

24-26 September (Tuesday-Thursday) Saudi Infrastructure Expo, Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center, Riyadh.

23 September (Monday): National Day (national holiday)

NOVEMBER

2-9 November (Saturday- Saturday): WTA Finals, Riyadh.

26-28 November (Tuesday-Thursday): Saudi Electricity Expo, Riyadh.

11-14 November (Monday-Thursday): Cityscape Global, Riyadh.

DECEMBER

2-13 December (Monday-Friday): Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Riyadh.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2024:

The AFC Champions League Elite

2025

FEBRUARY

10-13 February (Monday-Thursday): Leap 2025, the Kingdom’s premier tech investment conference

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