Hassana writes USD 1.5 bn ticket to Bono-backed fund

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: Jake Sullivan will be in town soon + It’s the start of Red Sea Fashion Week

Good morning, friends. It’s Thursday, but we have a packed issue for you before any if us can slide into the weekend. It’s a particularly beautiful day for a Bono-backed climate investment platform run by TPG, which just landed a USD 1.5 bn commitment from pension fund manager Hassana.

HAPPENING NOW-

#1- The CIPS MENA conference gets underway this morning at the Hilton Riyadh Hotel & Residences - Granada. The first half of the day will see speakers and panel discussions on building sustainable supply chains, supporting local content, localization of the procurement and supply industry, addressing current challenges in supply chains and exploring the digital transformation in procurement. An awards ceremony kicks off at 6pm. You can register for the conference here or view the full agenda here (pdf).

#2- Joe Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, is coming back to Saudi this weekend, a senior White House official said earlier this week. He’ll also be heading to Israel, where he’s expected to focus on the IDF’s ramp-up of its assault on Rafah.

Sullivan will be the third senior US official to stop in Riyadh in less than a week. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was here yesterday (see below) and Nasa chief Bill Nelson was also in town this week.

#2- Red Sea Fashion Week will get underway tomorrow and run until Saturday, 18 May at theSt. Regis Red Sea Resort, according to state news agency SPA. The event, organized by the Saudi Fashion Commission, will feature an opening show on the first day, followed by two days of runway shows showcasing collections from both Saudi and international designers.

Showcasing their work at the event: Designers Tima Abid, Sara Altwaim, Yasmina Q, Hadia Ghaleb, and Rebirth with Turkish brand Niluu.

TODAY’S WEATHER- There’s a chance of rain in Riyadh with a daytime high of 41°C and a low of 29°C. Makkah is set for a clear sky with a high of 40°C and a low of 28°C, with similar forecasts for Jeddah with a high of 36°C and a low of 25°C.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- WHISPERS- The Public Investment Fund has sold down big stakes in US equities, a regulatory filing shows. It now directly holds US-listed equities with a market value of c. USD 18 bn as of the end of 1Q 2024 — down from USD 35 bn at the end of December.

The slide in market value of the securities PIF holds reflects active selling. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up more than 13% so far this year.

What the PIF is unloading: Stakes worth USD 600 mn or more in Amazon, Salesforce, and Microsoft, for starters, a Bloomberg analysis found, though it has swapped into call options for smaller stakes, giving it the option to buy into them if it wants. It has also shed more than USD 600 mn worth of BlackRock stock, a USD 757 mn stake in travel company Booking, USD 942 mn in Carnival shares.

What gives? Bloomberg offers no analysis, but we suspect it’s a wave of profit-taking as the PIF comes aims to deploy more capital here at home — and faster — to support the Vision 2030 economic diversification drive.

#2- Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signed an energy cooperation roadmap with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, the Energy Ministry said in a post on X. The roadmap outlines a timeline for cooperation in “critical projects” in electricity and renewables, green hydrogen, energy efficiency and others.

Importantly, the roadmap also checks-off mention of nuclear power. A nuclear energy pact is one of three cornerstone agreements (along with one on defense and a third on AI and advanced technologies) that could be part of a grand accord that sees Saudi take steps to normalize relations with Israel.

SOUND SMART- Washington had originally hoped to sign the three pacts as part of a wider series of accords that would see Saudi normalize ties with Israel, but some in the Biden administration are pushing to close the bilateral agreements now to put pressure on Israel to come to the table on Gaza. While Axios is positioning that as a “long shot,” it also notes that “US and Saudi officials say they've made significant progress in their talks.”

#3- French energy giant TotalEnergies is talking with Acwa Power about new investments in Saudi renewables, Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne told Asharq Business on the sidelines of the Qatar Economic Forum (watch, runtime: 12:43). “In Saudi, we don’t produce oil and gas but we try to achieve a mix of investments in petrochemicals and renewable energy,” Pouyanne said, with

out providing further details. He said TotalEnergies’ global strategy was focused on proving that the French firm can invest in both oil and gas and renewable energy.

REMEMBER- The Kingdom unveiled plans in said in December to more than double its renewables target to 130 GW by 2030. It plans to add 20 GW in renewable energy annually to reach 130 GW by 2030, up from a previous target of 58.5 GW, according to earlier statements by the Energy Minister. The government is ready to export up to 150 GW of green hydrogen or electricity, he said.

#4- Is green hydrogen stuck in a rut? Thyssenkrupp Nucera, the hydrogen arm of the German industrial engineering giant, “has reported a drop in demand for the equipment it supplies to develop green hydrogen, the latest evidence that the nascent technology aimed at cutting emissions risks losing momentum,” the Financial Times writes this morning.

The issue: Would-be clients in Europe and North America are basically waiting for governments to finalize incentive packages (and, more sustainably, help create a market) that will make their projects commercially viable. They’re looking for a mix of direct subsidies and, in some cases, offtake agreements at set prices that lock in their margins on the still-nascent technology. (Regulatory questions on issues such as mass balancing are also factors, as are national commitments to decarbonization targets.)

WHY DOES IT MATTER? Saudi is making a big push into green hydrogen at Neom, where companies including Acwa Power aim to produce as much as 600 tons per day when they flip the “on” switch a couple of years down the road. Acwa is also working on green hydrogen projects in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan and as far away as Indonesia.

#5- Apex Group launched a regional office in Riyadh, where it will “provide a full range of innovative financial services and solutions, including managing, advisory and operating,” according to a press release. Apex Saudi Arabia says its team has experience with services for Islamic and private equity funds, equities, commodity, FX, and derivatives.

The Saudi appeal: “The Kingdom is one of the fastest growing global economies, and its stable economic conditions make it an attractive jurisdiction to conduct business,” Apex Group Regional Managing Director, Christiane El-Habre said.

What’s Apex? The firm provides services to the finance industry and financial professionals on the corporate side, ranging from fund administration and financial platforms to services for family offices and corporations. It has clients around the world.

#4- Dubai-based Ziwo eyes Saudi expansion: AI-powered call-center solutions provider Ziwo plans to expand in the Kingdom using fresh financing from its most recent funding round, Gulf News reports citing a company media release. The funding was raised at the two-day Seamless Middle East 2024 conference in Dubai, which wrapped up yesterday.

DATA POINTS-

#1- The Kingdom’s foreign reserve assets rose 3% y-o-y in April to SAR 1.6 tn, according to Argaam. On a monthly basis, foreign reserve assets fell 2% in April. Foreign currency reserves constitute 94% of the Kingdom’s foreign reserve assets.

#2- The total number of construction workers at Neom is expected to rise 43% y-o-y to 200k next year, Argaam quotes the company’s CEO Nadhmi Al Nasr as saying during the Saudi Great Futures summit yesterday. There are currently 500k full-time employees from 100 countries living and working at the futuristic city, he added.

REMEMBER- Neom is seeking fresh hires, with some 246 job openings including typical contractor jobs related to the ongoing construction of the USD 500 bn development and marketing positions to promote the city in Europe and elsewhere. The hiring spree comes as Neom embarked on a drive to assure contractors and bankers that the buildout of the city was proceeding on schedule after reports of the government scaling back the project.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Driving the conversation in the global business press this morning: Major Wall Street benchmarks hit a fresh high yesterday as traders welcomed promising US inflation data. We have the story in this morning’s Planet Finance, below.

MEANWHILE, IN GAZA- Israel has started sending troops into Rafah in what Bloomberg believes is the beginning of a “full-blow invasion.” The Israeli military has given advance warnings to Rafah citizens as tanks and infantry make their way into the eastern part of the city bordering Egypt. The move is visibly ramping up tensions with Egypt, the European Union, and the United States.

AN ARAB ROLE IN POST-WAR GAZA? The Biden administration is in talks with Egypt, the UAE, and Morocco about their potential participation in a “peacekeeping force” that would deploy in Gaza following the war, the Financial Times writes. The three Arab nations are considering the initiative but “they would want the US to recognise a Palestinian state first,” a western official told the salmon-colored paper. Saudi Arabia has straight up rejected the idea all together.

ELSEWHERE IN GLOBAL POLITICS- You’re going to be hearing a lot about Russia-China ties in the next couple of days. Vladimir Putin is in Beijing today and tomorrow to meet Xi Jinping. The Financial Times worries in its Big Read that Moscow and Beijing represent “an economic ‘friendship’ that could rattle the world.”

PLUS- A handful of stories in global politics about which you should know:

US presidential debate: Donald Trump and Joe Biden will debate in June and September ;
Slovak PM shot: An assassin shot the Russia-friendly prime minister of Slovakia, who is now “fighting for his life” after a three-hour surgery;
Another top OpenAI official has quit.

OIL WATCH- The International Energy Agency lowered its forecast for oil demand. It now sees global demand rising by 1.1 mn bpd in 2024 — 140k bpd less than last month’s projections — pointing to weaker demand particularly in Europe. This stands in stark contrast to OPEC’s forecast (pdf) that oil demand will rise by 2.25 mn bpd in 2024.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Riyadh will host the Saudi Energy Convention from Sunday, 19 May to Tuesday, 21 May. The convention will see energy and utilities industry leaders advance collaborative decarbonization efforts and identify innovation areas. It will also host the Saudi Utilities Convention and Saudi Hydrogen Convention to address the role and challenges of rolling out hydrogen, water and utility projects that are in line with the global energy transition. Over 10k energy professionals and 200 industry speakers will be present at the event.

The Future Aviation Forum will get underway on Monday, 20 May and run until Wednesday, 22 May at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh. The event, organized by the General Authority of Civil Aviation, will see the Kingdom showcasing some USD 100 bn worth of investment options in the aviation and logistics sector at large.

Riyadh will host the annual conference of the Airports Council International — also known as WAGA — from Tuesday, 21 May to Thursday, 23 May. The global gathering brings together leading senior executives from around the world to cover topics that shape the aviation industry. The event’s speakers include PIF-owned airline Riyadh Air CEO Rony Douglas, Saudi Air Connectivity Program Majid Khan, Riyadh Airports CEO Ayman Aboabah and others.

Demo day for the final round of the Sanabil 500 MENA seed accelerator will kick off on Wednesday, 29 May in Riyadh with seven finalists. Applications for the next batch are now open and will close on 6 August 2024.

Riyadh will host a Global AI Summit from 10-12 September, state news agency SPA reported yesterday. The event, which is organized by the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence, will focus on key AI topics and trends, delving into its local and global adoptions, ethics, and infrastructure.

Dammam will host the Saudi Maritime and Logistics Congress from Wednesday, 18 September to Thursday, 19 September. The two-day event looks to gather up to 10k attendees and 200 exhibitors, and will discuss topics including interlinked logistics, developments in supply chains, digitalisation, decarbonisation, the energy transition, and workforce development.

Saudi pension fund manager Hassana writes USD 1.5 bn ticket to a TPG climate fund

An arm of the Kingdom’s pension fund will write a USD 1.5 bn ticket to a TPG climate fund. Hassana Investment, the investment arm of the Saudi’s pension fund, the General Organization for Social Insurance (Gosi), is backing two climate funds run by US private equity firm TPG, according to a statement.

Where the money’s going: Hassana will make a “substantial anchor commitment” to TPG Rise Climate’s new Transition Infrastructure fund. “The remainder of Hassana’s commitment will be allocated to the TPG Rise Climate II fund,” Bloomberg said. Hassana manages about USD 320 bn for Gosi

TPG Rise Climate invests in sectors including energy transition, green mobility, and sustainable fuels. It has a focus on “infrastructure and real assets that are critical to global decarbonization and energy transition marketplaces,” according to a February statement. Former co-head of Goldman Sachs Scott Lebovitz was appointed partner and head of the infrastructure fund and strategy. TPG Rise Climate is part of the Rise Fund created by TPG and Bono, the U2 frontman.

About Hassana Investment: Hassana has become an “increasingly prominent global investor” after the government merged two of its pension and ins. funds together in 2021, Bloomberg writes, adding that “the firm signed an MoU with BlackRock in 2022 to promote and develop an infrastructure strategy.”

The region is ramping up its investments in green infrastructure: Hassana and TPG’s partnership comes after the UAE announced plans during COP28 to put USD 30 bn into a new climate fund aimed at backing projects that reduce emissions, especially in developing countries.

Saudi inflation came in at 1.6% in April 2024 — unchanged from the previous month

Inflation was unchanged in April 2024, coming in at 1.6% — the same rate as the previous month according to fresh figures from the General Authority for Statistics (Gastat) (pdf). That’s a bit slower than the 1.8% y-o-y pace at which prices rose in February. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.3% m-o-m last month, driven by a 0.4% increase in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel prices.

Real estate remained the biggest factor, with villas driving up rents: A 9.4% y-o-y increase in villa rental prices led to a 10.4% y-o-y hike in the price of the overall rent sector last month, according to Gastat.

Eating out and domestic travel have also gotten more expensive, with restaurant and hotel prices rising 2% y-o-y in April. Food and beverages inched up 0.8% y-o-y, while tuition and other education-related expenses rose 1.1% y-o-y last month.

What’s getting cheaper? Clothes and cars. The 6.6% y-o-y drop in the price of ready-made clothing drove a 4.2% y-o-y decline in the overall clothing and footwear sector last month. It’s the third month in a row that clothing and footwear prices have fallen. Transportation prices also dropped 1.6% y-o-y, fueled by a 2.9% y-o-y decline in car prices, despite car prices reportedly rising 15% over the last five years.

Producer prices rose 3.4% y-o-y in April, fueled by a 14.5% increase in the price of basic chemicals, and a 12% hike in that of refined petroleum products .Meanwhile, wholesale prices dipped 0.4% m-o-m last month, Gastat data shows (pdf).

UAE’s Shorooq Partners is looking for more exposure to Saudi startups looking for venture debt

Shorooq Partners’ USD 100 mn venture debt fund is eyeing fast-growing startups in Saudi and the UAE, Founding Partner Mahmoud Adi told Asharq Business (watch, runtime, 6:31).

The targets: Fast-growing, profitable tech firms. It already has two fintech startups in its investment pipeline, Adi said. The fund, named Nahda II, follows Shorooq’s first venture debt fund, which launched in 2021.

The local angle: Nahda I provided USD 50 mn in mezzanine finance to homegrown BNPL platform Tamara in November 2023. The Shorooq fund was joined at the time by Goldman Sachs, which arranged USD 200 mn in senior debt for Tamara.

SOUNT SMART- What’s venture debt? Firms offering venture debt are effectively competing with banks. Why work with one, then? Venture debt providers have — by definition — higher risk appetite. They may charge more, but they’re also a lot more likely to understand and extend finance to a startup than many traditional lenders.

Foot-dragging by the Fed on rate cuts is good news for GCC banks: S&P Global

The profitability of GCC banks is on track to remain robust this year thanks to the US Federal Reserve delaying interest rate cuts, S&P Global said in a report. The monetary tightening cycle has served banks in the Gulf, where central banks mirror rates due to their currencies being pegged to the USD, S&P notes. Banks’ asset quality is also expected to remain strong on the back of “supportive economies, contained leverage, and a high level of precautionary reserves.”

In context: The Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged earlier this month, with Fed boss Jay Powell making it clear that the central bank is in no hurry to start cutting rates after a surprise uptick in US inflation this year. “It is likely to take longer for us to gain confidence that we are on a sustainable path down to 2% inflation,” Powell said. “I don’t know how long it will take.”

By S&P Global’s math: Cutting rates by 100 basis points would trim rated Gulf banks’ net income by c. 9%, S&P Global said, basing its calculation on banks’ disclosures at year-end 2023. However, lower interest rates help banks slash unrealized losses that have been accumulated throughout the past years, S&P Global said, estimating these losses at c. USD 2.8 bn.

Expect the GCC bank profitability to take a hit in 2025, as the Fed could start cutting rates in December, S&P Global said. However, the report sees some factors helping to alleviate the impact on banks’ bottom lines, including a repositioning of banks’ balance sheets through fixing interest rates at current levels or swapping variable rates for fixed ones before the Federal Reserve starts cutting rates. It also sees deposit migration to interest-bearing instruments in some of Gulf markets helping weaken the impact.

Other factors include a forecast lower cost of risk for lenders, with S&P Global seeing firms having “additional breathing room that could help their creditworthiness and ultimately reduce banks' provisioning needs” due to banks repricing corporate loans on the back of the potential interest rate cuts. It also sees higher volumes of lending make up for lower margins, especially in Saudi which is seeing growth in lending volumes due to its diversification plan.

Some will be impacted more than others due to interest rate cuts: S&P Global sees Gulf banks with high volumes of corporate lending more likely to be at risk than their peers as they reprice loans. It said the “most vulnerable bank” in its sample is expected to have c. 30% of its net income shaved with every 100 bps cut in rates.

Our British besties hail “landmark commitment” to boost Saudi-UK trade, investment

More praise + warmer ties as Saudi Great Futures closes: The two-day Saudi Great Futures investment conference — which is backed by our friends at HSBC — wrapped up yesterday with an agreement on a (vague) “landmark commitment to increase bilateral trade” between Saudi and the UK as officials once again stressed that investment ties between the two countries are “stronger than ever.”

REFRESHER- Execs from hundreds of British companies were in town as part of a delegation led by UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden to “connect with senior government and business decision-makers from Saudi Arabia’s ultra-ambitious giga-projects, and establish long-lasting relationships,” according to the summit’s webpage, in addition to mulling over “how to make Vision 2030 a reality.”

Investment goes both ways: Investment Minister Khalid Al Falih sat down with UK Investment Minister Dominic Johnson to “discuss the bns of investment flows” between the two countries, according to a post on X. The two countries signed an agreement to “accelerate strategic investments into both Kingdoms,” Johnson said, without providing further details.

And London — or at least The City — is calling for Saudi businesses: The ministers also chaired a meeting to identify funding solutions for local companies seeking growth. “The UK is a leading global financial hub, and we are open to providing funding solutions to firms to meet their funding requirements,” Johnson said.

Pitching Neom: Neom CEO Nadhmi Al Nasr highlighted massive potential investments available to British investors in the city. “Aligned with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, we are contributing to solving some of the world’s most complex challenges, with a view to building a better future for people and the planet,” he said. Neom has been active in the past weeks to drum up investment interest, with a recent trip to China to lure interest from Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai.

And bringing in more tourists: The Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) signed a declaration of intent with UK’s national tourism agency VisitBritain to look at how to cooperate on boosting tourism between the two countries, according to a statement on Tuesday. Over 165k British tourists visited Saudi between January and March this year, Tourism Minister and STA Chairman Ahmed Al Khateeb said. He said Saudi hopes some of its tourism projects “become as iconic as UK attractions like the Tower of London and Stonehenge” to lure in more visitors.

British Airways returns to Jeddah: British Airways will resume flights to Jeddah starting Monday, 4 November, ending a three-year hiatus that began during covid-19, according to a statement by the Saudi Air Connectivity Program. The airline will operate four weekly flights between London and Jeddah, the statement said. The British flagship carrier suspended flights to Jeddah and other long-haul destinations including Abu Dhabi in 2021 in a bid to slash losses caused by the grounding of flights due to the pandemic.

And more cooperation in education + arts: Education Minister Yousef Al Benyan signed a cooperation program agreement with Johnson to advance the fields of technical and vocational education, Technical Vocational Training Corp said in a post on X. On the arts and culture front, Saudi and the UK unveiled an initiative to promote cross-cultural understanding, Arab News reports. Titled “A Shared Heritage of Two Kingdoms,” the campaign kicked off with a number of workshops focused on the traditional crafts of Najdi wooden doors and Sadu weaving in both Riyadh. A similar workshop will be hosted in London today.

AND- Nothing is complete without some AI talk: Experts from Saudi and the UK discussed how artificial intelligence could be leveraged to enhance healthcare, Arab News reported. “In Saudi Arabia, we have embraced digital health as a priority because of its potential to enhance healthcare delivery, improve patient outcomes, and drive economic growth,” the CEO of Vision 2030’s Health Sector Transformation Program Khalid Al Shaibani said. The UK’s Under Secretary of State in the Department of Health and Social Care Nick Markham highlighted the growing importance of AI in healthcare, saying that AI sees and analyzes health patterns and data in ways that people can’t.

Saudi Central Bank puts new e-wallet regulations up for public consultation

The Saudi Central Bank (Sama) is out with proposed regulations (pdf) for opening electronic wallets as it looks to regulate the sector. The rules, which aim to set regulatory and supervisory requirements for electronic payment institutions, have been put up on the government’s survey platform Istitlaa for public consultation until Thursday, 30 May.

E-wallets for all: Individuals (whether local or expats) looking to open e-wallets can do so through their national IDs or residency cards. Children under 18 can also have access to their own e-wallets provided that they are opened through their parents or legal guardians. Digital wallets for underage children do not allow access for cash withdrawals or cross-border transactions, with Sama setting the maximum limit for monthly payments for these wallets. Companies, NGOs, and freelancers can also open e-wallets provided that they present required paperwork, which includes commercial registers, licenses and freelance services contracts among others.

Clients can close their digital wallets after financial service providers approve their request provided there is no order for a seizure of funds. They, along with GGC citizens, would not be required to update their data as a prerequisite to shut down their wallets. However, expats must provide a valid residency or a final exit visa to close their wallets. If a wallet remains inactive for a year — except if there were payments on hold — the financial institution will notify the customer and close the wallet after 30 days of the notification period.

Strict monitoring for financial fraud: Electronic payment institutions should have a clear understanding of clients’ activities and nature of transactions before they proceed with opening e-wallets. They should implement customer verification procedures similar to ones used with fintech clients to help combat possible fraud when using e-wallets. They would also be required to use automated surveillance systems to monitor possible internal and external fraud when using the digital wallets.

In context: The new draft regulations come amid a cashless push as Sama clears more fintech companies to provide digital payments solutions to customers. Some of the authorized e-wallet providers include STC Pay, BayanPay, Hala, Alinma Pay, URPay, and others. The local digital wallet market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 8.8% during 2023 to 2028 on the back of more people using their smartphones to make online transactions.

Natural Gas Distribution + International Company for Human Resources gearing up for main market transition

Two Nomu-listed companies are planning to move to Tadawul’s main market.

#1- Nomu-listed state-owned Natural Gas Distribution (NGDC) said in a filing to Tadawul yesterday that its board had signed off on the move, but didn’t provide any other details.

About NGDC: Established in 2000, the state-owned natural gas distribution player is one of the largest in its segment, second only to Aramco, according to its website. NGDC supplies natural gas to factories in Riyadh’s second industrial city, with 66 factories currently linked to its supplies.

NGDC will have to make some changes to make the cut: To earn regulatory approval, it will need to boost its market cap, which currently stands at SAR 215 mn, according to market data. Companies must have a market cap of SAR 300 mn to upgrade to the main market.

REMEMBER- Issuers on main market Tadawul are also required to have at least 200 public shareholders at the time of listing and a minimum of three years worth of audited financial statements.

How NGDC fared in 2023: The company’s net income rose 14.4% y-o-y to SAR 3.8 mn last year, and revenues inched up 1.6% y-o-y to SAR 92.5 mn, it said in a previous disclosure.

Market reax: The company’s share price remained unchanged at SAR 43.00 at yesterday’s close.

AL DAWLIAH-

#2- Recruitment and HR agency the International Company for Human Resources — better known as Al Dawliah — has appointed Yaqeen Capital as a financial advisor on its potential transfer to the main market Tadawul, it said in a statement to the exchange.

About Al Dawliah: The company has been in business for more than 15 years, with six branches split between the Kingdom, the UAE, Jordan, and Egypt, according to its website. Al Dawliah has served north of 1.6 mn users, with clients including FedEx Express, Saudi Airlines, Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group, Al Rajhi Bank, and several ministries.

The financials: Al Dawliah reported SAR 2.8 mn in net income in 2023, down 34.1% y-o-y. The lower bottom line comes despite the company’s revenues rising 45% y-o-y to SAR 112.1 mn during the year, which Al Dawliah said was because it “formed an allowance for credit losses” worth SAR 1.3 mn, while zakat expenses rose 74% y-o-y in 2023. The company’s market capitalization currently stands at SAR 209.0 mn, according to market data.

Market reax: The company’s share price remained rose 0.2% to SAR 4.20 at yesterday’s close.

A fresh Royal decree with new appointments across royal, gov’t institutions. PLUS: The managing director of Emaar, The Economic city resigns

King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud issued a number of royal appointments yesterday, SPA reports.

Here’s what you need to know:

Prince Abdulaziz bin Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Ayyaf Al-Muqrin was appointed special adviser to King Salman With the rank of minister. He will also handle the responsibilities of deputy minister of the National Guard;
Al-Rabdi bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabdi was appointed as head of the National Data Management Office;
Abdul Mohsen bin Saad bin Abdulmohsen Al Khalaf is now deputy finance minister;
Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Abdulaziz Al-Dahim was named assistant commerce minister;
Anas bin Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Sulai was appointed assistant tourism minister;
Sami bin Abdullah Muqeem was named vice president of the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence.
Abdullah bin Ali bin Muhammad Al-Ahmari was named assistant minister for planning and development at the Industry and Mineral Resources Ministry;
Shihana Alazzaz was appointed chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property, after being relieved of his duty as deputy secretary-general of the Council of Ministers. He was succeeded by Khalid bin Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Abdulkarim;

Tadawul-listed Emaar, The Economic City (EEC) has accepted the resignation of Managing Director Mansour Al Salem (LinkedIn), Emaar said in a disclosure to Tadawul. Once the resignation goes into effect on Friday, 31 May, Al Salem will move on to the position of a non-executive board member. He’s currently also serving as a director at the Public Investment Fund, which holds a 25% stake in EEC.

More sports talk

Sports continues to dominate coverage of Saudi in the foreign press this morning, with a number of Saudi Pro League clubs on the hunt for top transfers to boost the local league’s strength. The Guardian is looking at some of the target transfers which include Manchester United’s Casemiro and Raphaël Varane and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Alisson. The Guardian also looks at how Al Nassr’s Cristiano Ronaldo and peers from Europe could perform at Euro 2024 in June.

A taste for rugby? Former England rugby captain Mike Tindall is all for Saudi investing in the oval ball game, The Telegraph reports. Saudi Arabia has been investing in several other sports, Tindall said, pointing out that rugby could do with a financial boost from the Kingdom as what the players put in, the hard work on the field, is just not backed up by the finances off the field.”

Meanwhile, Dubai-based boutique advisory deNovo Partners sees Saudi luring in more FDI from its Vision 2030 projects, Bloomberg reported. The advisory firm is looking to set up shop in Saudi to capitalize on the Kingdom’s appetite for FDI, the company’s Executive Chairwoman May Nasrallah said. She said a lack of significant foreign investment was not “something that will be there forever.”

Novotel Riyadh Sahafa is now open. PLUS: Manufacturing, healthcare, electricity, oil and gas, and Saudization news

TOURISM-

Novotel has launched its ninth property in the Kingdom, the four-star Novotel Riyadh Sahafa, according to a press release. The hotel has 232 rooms and suites and is led by the Kingdom’s first woman hotel general manager, Hessa Al Mazroa. No details were provided on the project’s investment size

AGRIFOODS-

Danish Baader Food Processing Machinery will supply poultry processing equipment to Nomu-listed Balady Poultry under a SAR 81 mn contract, according to a disclosure to Tadawul yesterday. The two-year contract aims to raise Balady’s production capacity through its factory which boasts two lines with a production capacity of 25k birds per hour.

TECH-

Cognite Data Fusion now available to Google Cloud customers in Saudi: Cognite Data Fusion, the flagship Industrial DataOps product of CNTXT — a JV between Aramco and Norwegian industrial software provider Cognite — is now available on Google Cloud to local customers, according to a statement by Cognite. The product uses AI and data analytics to help industrial sectors such as energy, manufacturing, and logistics migrate their data in an efficient way and provides operational insights to improve efficiency.

SOUND SMART- Industrial DataOpsis a data management practice that involves the automation and monitoring of data flows within an organization to ensure that data is readily available for analysis, while also maintaining data quality and security. It's used to improve the quality and reduce the cycle time of data analytics in industrial settings.

ELECTRICITY-

Saudi PowerTransformers — a unit of Tadawul-listed Electrical Industries (EIC) — is planning a SAR 192 mn expansion that will see it set up extra high voltage transformers and reactors in a bid to up its power generation capacity, EIC said in a filing to Tadawul. The company will use its own resources and bank facilities to finance the project.

The timeline: Construction work is slated for kickoff in 2H 2024, and is expected to be completed in 4Q 2026, after which a six-month trial period will begin in 1Q 2027, before the plant is commercially operational by 3Q 2027.

OIL & GAS-

Tadawul-listed Saudi Steel Pipes has a SAR 138.6 mn contract from Aramco which will run for up to 12 months, according to a disclosure to Tadawul.

HEALTHCARE-

Al Faisaliah Medical Systems — a unit of Tibbiyah — received two fresh purchase orders worth SAR 23.8 mn from the National Unified Procurement Company, according to a disclosure on Tadawul.

FOOD SECURITY-

Tadawul-listed Almunajem Foods signed an MoU with the government’s National Industrial Development Center to build a food factory in Jeddah, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul. The MoU is valid for two years ending 13 May, 2026. No further details were provided.

SAUDIZATION-

The Human Resources Development Fund signed an MoU with state-owned mining giant Ma’aden to strengthen the localization of jobs across the mining sector, it said in a statement yesterday. Under the MoU, local suppliers will be trained and incorporated within Ma’aden’s local content program Tharwah. Both parties will also explore avenues to achieve sustainability in the mining and mineral resources sector. They agreed on forming a joint working group to activate areas of cooperation in the industry.

Traders send US stocks to record high after promising inflation data

One story is driving the conversation in the global business press this morning: US stocks are at an all-time high. Wall Street’s benchmark indexes — the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow — all hit record highs last night as traders cheered data showing US consumer prices rising at a slower rate in April.

The numbers: US inflation cooled to 3.4% in April, coming in below analyst expectations and 0.1 percentage points below the 3.5% recorded in March, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released yesterday.

Traders react: The figure reignited trader optimism that the Federal Reserve could start cutting interest rates this year. Fed chair Jay Powell has said time and time again that the central bank will not cut rates before it ensures that the country is on a sustainable path to 2% inflation — its core target. “The news on core inflation was better than expected. Retail sales also showed some deceleration from the previously hot consumer sector. Taken together, this supports a Fed rate-cut in the fall,” one analyst told CNBC.

Where the markets settled: The S&P 500 was up 1.2%, hitting a record 5,308. Dow Jones was up 0.9% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.4%.

Stocks rise, treasuries fall. Yields on two-year US treasuries fell to their lowest level since early April.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Major Asian benchmarks are all comfortably in the green this morning, following Wall Street’s lead. Futures suggest both European and US markets are on track to open in positive territory at the opening bell today.

TASI	12,103	-0.2% (YTD: +1.1%)
MSCI Tadawul 30	1,512	-0.5% (YTD: -2.5%)
NomuC	26,666	0.03% (YTD: +8.7%)
USD : SAR (SAMA)	3.75 Sell	3.75 Buy
Interest rates	6.5% repo	5.5% reverse repo
EGX30	25,316	-0.1% (YTD: +1.7%)
ADX	9,021	-0.4% (YTD: -5.8%)
DFM	4,093	-1.1% (YTD: +0.8%)
S&P 500	5,308	+1.2% (YTD: +11.3%)
FTSE 100	8,446	+0.2% (YTD: +9.2%)
Euro Stoxx 50	5,101	+0.4% (YTD: +12.8%)
Brent crude	USD 82.94	+0.7%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 2.42	+3.1%
Gold	USD 2,395	+1.5%
BTC	USD 65,831	+6.9% (YTD: +55.7%)

THE CLOSING BELL: TADAWUL-

The TASI fell 0.2% yesterday on turnover of SAR 6.3 bn. The index is up +1.1% YTD.

In the green: Sidc (+10%), Wafrah (+9.9%) and Al Baha (+7.7%).

In the red: BCI (-7.6%), Saudi Electricity (-5.6%) and Bupa Arabia (-4.9%).

THE CLOSING BELL: NOMU-

The NomuC rose 0.03% yesterday on turnover of SAR 33.4 mn. The index is up 8.7% YTD.

In the green: Burgerizzr (+5%), Al Dawliah (+4.5%) and Mulkia (+4.3%).

In the red: Ghida AlSultan (-11.3%), Pro Medex (-7%) and Apico (-5%)

CALENDAR

MAY

15-16 May (Wednesday-Thursday): Arab Forum of Anti-Corruption, Riyadh.

16-18 May (Thursday-Saturday): Red Sea Fashion Week, The St. Regis Red Sea Resort.

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

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

20-22 May (Monday-Wednesday): Future Aviation Forum, Riyadh.

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

21-23 May (Tuesday-Thursday): WAGA 2024, Riyadh.

25 May (Saturday): Bidding deadline for Duba’s seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant in Tabuk.

27-28 May (Monday-Tuesday): Smart Data & AI Summit Saudi, JW Marriott Hotel, Riyadh.

29 May (Wednesday): Sanabil 500 MENA seed accelerator demo day, Four Seasons Hotel, Riyadh.

Signposted to happen sometime in May:

Global Trade Review (GTR): KSA
Saudi Energy Convention

JUNE

1 June (Saturday): OPEC+ meeting.

2-3 June (Sunday-Monday): Global Project Management Forum, Riyadh.

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

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

5 June (Wednesday): World Environment Day.

5 June (Wednesday): The Optimism Forum, Cairo, Egypt.

5 June (Wednesday): Digital Transformation Summit, Riyadh.

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

10-12 September (Tuesday-Thursday): Global AI Summit, Riyadh.

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

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

18-19 September (Wednesday-Thursday): Saudi Maritime & Logistics Congress, Dammam.

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

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

OCTOBER

21-22 October (Monday-Tuesday): Smart Ports & Logistics Transformation Summit, Riyadh.

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.

18-20 November (Monday-Wednesday): The Heavy Equipment and Truck Show, Dammam.

25-27 November (Monday-Wednesday): World Investment Conference, Riyadh.

26-28 November (Tuesday-Thursday): Saudi Electricity Expo, 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 2024

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

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