MBC to go public on Tadawul in blockbuster IPO

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

Don’t go to the desert when it’s raining, folks

Good morning, wonderful people, and welcome to Zero Issue #002 of EnterpriseAM KSA.

It’s an insane morning for capital markets in the Mideast, with plenty of IPO news in the Kingdom and beyond — and more than a handful of high-profile M&A involving listed companies:

Leading regional broadcaster is MBC is going public on the Tadawul;
The Nomu continues to build momentum for two closely watched parallel-market IPOs;
We have M&A news from SABIC, Zain KSA, and the PIF’s MMA fighting franchise.

And that’s just in KSA. Over in the UAE, PureHealth says it will IPO in December, OSN+ and Anghami are merging, and crypto miner Phoenix says its IPO was more than 33x oversubscribed.

We have coverage of events here in the Kingdom in this morning’s news well, below, while the UAE news leads Planet Finance.

PROGRAMMING NOTE- We’re off tomorrow (Thursday, 23 November) and will be back in your inboxes on Monday morning.

** This is a zero issue of EnterpriseAM Saudi and has not been published or distributed to a wide audience. The sponsor logos above are not correct because we’re still developing the new Saudi template.

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☀️WEATHER- Expect entirely seasonal weather today, with a high of 24°C in Riyadh (dipping to 14°C overnight). There’s no rain today in Dammam (28°C / 17°C), while it’s going to be a bit warmer in Mecca (33°C / 23°C) and Jeddah (33°C / 26°C) with not a cloud in the sky.

Pro tip from Riyadh Civil Defense and the national weather center: Do not head out to the desert if the forecast so much as hints at the possibility of rain. The National Center for Meteorology has taken to X to warn citizens to exercise a high degree of caution as we look forward to winter rain. Civil Defense is urging people to be cautious, follow guidelines, and avoid flood-prone areas.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Saudi Games are coming back next week: A revamped second edition of the Saudi Games gets underway on Sunday in Riyadh with a new youth division that include athletes under the age of 18. The event, which runs until Sunday, 10 December, includes 53 individual and team sports — six of Paralympic sports — making it the biggest sports event in the history of the Kingdom. You can book your tickets here.

We’re also looking forward to Riyadh Laughs this weekend. It’s too late to get tickets toMaz Jobrani’s show on Thursday night at Boulevard Riyadh City’s Muvi Cinema — it’s already sold out. But tickets are still available for Dammam-born actor and comedian Ibrahim Al Hajjaj’s show (Instagram) on Friday night. Doors open at 8:15pm AST. Shakir Sherif (Instagram) takes the stage at Boulevard on Saturday.

A fresh slate of comedians will take to the stage at the end of next week — we’ll have more for you then.

** Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

PSA- Don’t put your kids online, says SDAIA.The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) has launched an awareness campaign with the aim of protecting children’s personal data, the authority said in a Linkedin post on Monday. Families are being advised against posting pictures of children online and sharing personal data such as names and home addresses on unfamiliar websites. The authority is also warning parents to regularly have a look at what the kids are storing on their devides.

COP WATCH-

COP28 is only a week away, with global leaders in climate, policy, and business preparing for 13 days of intense negotiations in Dubai to save our planet from climate catastrophe. The gathering runs from 30 November to 12 December. Check in with our regional sister publication, Enterprise Climate, for wall-to-wall coverage.

Just in time for COP: A hydrogen-powered truck. Almajdouie Logistics, Air Products Qudra and the Transport General Authority (TGA) launched yesterday trial operations for Saudi Arabia’s first hydrogen-powered truck, state-run news agency Saudi Press Agency reports. The truck can cover more than 400 km with 35 kg of hydrogen.

REMEMBER- We’re also getting our first hydrogen-fueled train: National rail operator Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) — a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund — landed a license last week from the TGA to start trials of the first hydrogen-powered passenger train in the Middle East and Africa

…AND H2 fueling stations: Saudi Railways has also signed an MoU with Air Products Qudra to build an undisclosed number of hydrogen fueling stations for trains on a build, own and operate basis, Zawya reports.

PLUS- The finger-wagging west: Researchers in Melbourne, Australia, think Saudi should spend less time planting trees and that we should instead look to reduce our CO2 footprint “by reducing emissions, not pledging [to plant] large areas of land,” Bloomberg writes.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A TRADE WAR?

The General Authority for Foreign Trade is looking into allegations that China and Russia are dumping SNF on Saudi Arabia. The investigation comes after complaints from industry players that foreign manufacturers are exporting sulfonated naphthalene formaldehyde (SNF) to KSA at below-market prices, state-run news agency SPA announced yesterday.

SOUND SMART- Dumping allegations are typically raised when a commodity is sold in export markets at below-market prices thanks to either subsidies and / or a supply glut in the market of origin.

Uh, Enterprise? What’s SNF, anyway? SNF is a key additive to cement and, critically for countries like KSA and others in our region, it can be used to make construction more water-efficient by keeping the water-to-cement ratio in concrete low. It’s most-often used in ready-mix concrete as well as precast and prestressed components for infrastructure projects and buildings. SNF is also used as a fluid in the drilling and metalworking industries and can be important to textile makers and in water treatment.

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD-

The global business press is focused on three stories on this fine November morning:

#1-The Israeli government has agreed to a hostage swap with Hamas that will see a four-day pause in the fighting. At least 50 Israeli hostages will be released and some 150 Palestinian detained freed. The news is everywhere, from from Reuters and Bloomberg to the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.

#2- We still have no clue who will lead OpenAI — or whether deposed CEO Sam Altman is going to take his team to Microsoft. But there are signs that OpenAI’s board buckling — it’s said to be in talks once more with Altman to bring him back. The Verge reports that Altman prefers to return to OpenAI, and Microsoft boss Satya Nadella has pulled back a bit from public discussion of what’s going on. Nearly all of the company’s 700 employees have reportedly threatened to leave if Altman is not reinstated.

Follow the story throughout the day by dipping into the Verge’s story stream.

Want to go deeper? Try Kara Swisher’s interview with Nadella or the Vergecast’s bid to make sense of what’s going on.

#3- This morning in corporate crime: The CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange has pleaded guilty to money laundering. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (known as CZ in the crypto world) has stepped down and pleaded guilty to breaching anti-money laundering laws in the US in what was described by prosecutors as one of the heftiest corporate penalties in US history, according to statements from the US Treasury and Justice Department yesterday.

Zhao will likely serve no more than 18 months in prison as part of a plea agreement, despite facing a sentence of up to 10 years.The news is everywhere this morning in the global business press: Reuters | Bloomberg | Financial Times | CNBC | Wall Street Journal.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

#1- Riyadh is hosting a real estate investment conference talking up opportunities in Egypt. Expect senior Saudi and Egyptian government officials to be on hand alongside leaders of the industry in both countries.

#2- Also: A number of bold-name Saudi companies are in Cairo today for the Egy-GCC Business Forum, which takes place today and tomorrow. Egyptian officials said they were shopping some 150 projects to Saudi investors at a meeting of the Egypt-Saudi Business Council in Cairo yesterday.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

OPEC+ member states are meeting on Sunday to discuss how the cartel of oil-producing nations will respond to falling oil prices and how new economic realities could further stifle demand. There’s talk of an additional cut of 1 mn barrels per day, according to industry insider chatter picked up by the Financial Times.

Top broadcaster MBC to go public on Tadawul in blockbuster IPO

MBC has hired our friends at HSBC alongside JP Morgan and SNB Capital for what pundits are tipping as one of the year’s largest and most visible IPOs. The company made the announcement yesterday after receiving regulatory clearance from the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to go ahead with the transaction. The prospectus for the offering of 10% of the company’s total shares on Tadawul has yet to be released, the CMA said in a brief statement.

MBC is explicitly courting global and regional institutions with the offering. The institutional tranche of the sale will account for at least 90% of shares on offer, while no more than 10% will be allocated to individual investors. The offering will be Regulation S compliant (ie: pass muster with the US Securities and Exchange Commission), making it easier for global institutional investors to consider taking a stake.

The broadcaster has up to six months to pull the trigger on the sale, the regulator said.

MBC is pitching itself as a long-term growth story, its IPO microsite suggests.

The company is one of the region’s oldest and largest broadcasters and has done a good job of managing the switch from satellite to streaming with the launch of its Shahid streaming service, which claims the largest audience of any of what the industry calls “over-the-top” or “OTT” services in MENA. The group draws c. 150 mn viewers a week on satellite, while Shahid has 22 mn peak active users during Ramadan and is building it an audience in the Australia and the United States. MBC runs 13 channels (from news to entertainment) and has a library of some 9.2k proprietary titles.

In numbers, MBC claims:

An EBITDA margin of just over 10% last year, with EBITDA of SAR 377 mn on revenues of SAR 3.49 bn. It says that margin is industry-leading — and that it would have turned in an EBITDA margin of >20% if it wasn’t investing in fast-growing Shahid;

A 40% share of audience in KSA, which it says makes it 2.5x larger than its nearest competitor;
#1 positions in Egypt, Iraq, and Morocco, though it stops short of specifying the size of its audience in those countries.

How does it plan to grow? Streaming, streaming, streaming. MBC is highlighting its fast-growing paid-subscription streaming business (where it also sees substantial advertising prospects) — and is talking up “gaming, music and events” as important future revenue streams.

Who owns MBC? The state’s Al Istedamah has 60%, while founder and chairman Waleed Al Ibrahim holds the balance.

Who’s selling? The company’s intention to float (pdf) does not make clear which of the two parties is offering how many shares for sale, but CEO Sam Barnett said Al Ibrahim is “actively engaged” in the business and is “not selling.”

Global media coverage: The announcement is getting ink from Bloomberg and Reuters, in addition to wide coverage in regional media.

ADVISORS- HSBC, JP Morgan, and SNB Capital are on board as joint financial advisors as well as joint bookrunners and underwriters. GIB Capital is serving as financial advisor to substantial shareholders. Arab National Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Riyad Bank and Saudi National Bank have been named receiving banks, while Brunswick is running media.

Almujtama starts trading on Nomu today + Lana Medical prices IPO

Nomu welcomes newcomer Almujtama today: Pharma company Almujtama Alraida Medical will list its shares on parallel market Nomu today where its shares will start trading at SAR 40 a piece, Tadawul said yesterday.

Lock-up period: Shareholders with stakes over 5% will have a 12-month lockup period starting today.

By the numbers: Almujtama owns and operates a chain of 125 pharmacies across the country and plans to open 32 new outlets in the next 12 months.

ADVISORS- Aldukheil Financial Group is quarterbacking the transaction as financial advisor, while Talal Abu-Ghazaleh & Co. is acting as auditor.

IN OTHER IPO NEWS-

Healthcare provider LanaMedical has priced its Nomu IPO at SAR 31.00 apiece after wrapping its book-building process with demand for 117.2% of all shares on offer, financial advisor and lead manager Yaqeen Capital said in a regulatory filing yesterday. The healthcare player intends to list 720k ordinary shares on Nomu, good for a 20% stake in the company.

ADVISORS- Yaqeen Capital is quarterbacking the transaction as financial advisor and lead manager, while Alkharashi is acting as auditor, according to the company’s prospectus (pdf).

Other Nomu listings in the pipeline:

NUPCO, Saudi’s largest medical procurement firm;
Fad International (prospectus, pdf);
View United Real Estate Development (prospectus, pdf);
Armah Sports (prospectus, pdf);

Sabic and TotalEnergies mull the sale of jointly owned USD 1 bn chemical plant

Sabic and French energy giant TotalEnergies could be selling their jumbo US chemical plant in a USD 1 bn transaction,Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing sources it says have knowledge of the potential transaction. The business information service didn’t name the buyer; neither SABIC nor TotalEnergies would comment on the claim.

Plastic everything: The plant in Carville, Louisiana, produces styrene and polystyrene, which are used in the production everything from plastic packaging and disposable cups to insulation. The styrene plant is owned 50-50 between Sabic and TotalEnergies. The same site is home to a polystyrene plant wholly owned by TotalEnergies. Together, the two plants are the world’s largest styrene and polystyrene facility.

What we know: Total and Sabic have reportedly hired an advisor to prepare for the sale of the styrene and polystyrene production lines in Louisiana. Talks are still at an early stage, Bloomberg said.

BACKGROUND- TotalEnergies is a long-term Aramco partner. The two are building a USD 11 bn petrochemical project in Saudi Arabia, Aramco announced last December.

Ades Holding signs its inaugural contract in Indonesia + two new contracts in Algeria

Oil driller Ades lands contracts in Indonesia, Algeria: Fresh off its hot IPO, Tadawul-listed oil and gas drilling company Ades Holding has inked three contracts worth combined SAR 1 bn (USD 293 mn) in Indonesia and Algeria, it said in a regulatory filing (pdf) yesterday.

Southeast Asia is new for the Egypt-born company: State-owned Pertamina Drilling Services Indonesia (PDSI) awarded Ades a three-year contract that could potentially be extended to five years to operate Ades’ existing jack-up drilling rig Emerald Driller in the Java Sea. Ades drew a line under the contract’s favorable pricing, which it says is at a day rate higher than the going average with a “high double-digit increase.” Operations are set to start in 2H 2024. Indonesia becomes Ades’ eighth country; the Emerald Driller is currently stationed in Qatar.

Not a first in Algeria: State-owned oil company Sonatrach has awarded Ades two five-year contracts worth a combined SAR 296 mn to operate two of Ades’ existing onshore rigs dubbed (ADES 810 and ADES 815), which are currently in Egypt. The company expects to start operations in 2H 2024.

“Revenue replenishment” is the name of the game for a driller such as Ades, which needs to book business ahead of existing contracts ending when fields peter out. An emphasis on long-term contracts “offers robust cashflow visibility,” said Ades CEO Mohamed Farouk.

Ades does a mix of onshore and offshore work across MENA and in India. It went public this fall in a high-profile IPO on the Tadawul orchestrated by the Public Investment Fund (PIF). The PIF bought London-listed driller and took it private ahead of the transaction. The USD 1.2 bn IPO was priced at the top of the range after heavy interest from both institutional and individual buyers, making it the Kingdom’s biggest IPO this year.

PIF consolidates its ownership of Golden Lattice in a SAR 726 mn transaction with Zain KSA

Zain offloads its remaining 20% stake in Golden Lattice to PIF: Zain KSA has offloaded its remaining 20% stake in mobile tower infrastructure provider Golden Lattice Investment Company (GLI) to the Public Investment Fund, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul on Monday. GLI operates more than 8k towers across the kingdom.

PIF paid a healthy premium: The Mobile Telecommunication Company Saudi Arabia, as Zain is formally known, netted SAR 726 mn — that’s a 20% premium to the SAR 605 mn book value of the stake.

Where are the funds going? The telecoms giant plans to use the proceeds from the transaction to fund investment and its core business, it said.

BACKGROUND- Tadawul-listed Zain KSA sold GLI, known at the time as Zain Business, to the PIF last year for USD 800 mn in a transaction that gave Zain SAR 2.4 bn in cash and a 20% stake in GLI. The PIF received at the time a call option that allowed it to buy back Zain KSA’s stake in GLI.

MARKET REAX:Zain shares fell 0.7% to SAR 14.1 at yesterday’s close.

PIF-backed sports venture acquires MMA rival Bellator from Paramount

MMA M&A- PIF-backed Professional Fighters League, a rival to the Ultimate Fighting Championship brand, is buying Bellator MMA from Paramount. The US-based PFL, which is backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has acquired rival fighting franchise Bellator MMA from Paramount, PFL said in a statement yesterday that got plenty of ink in the global business press.

It’s a power move: PFL is challenging industry leader Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as kingpin of the mixed martial arts arena. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

What they said: “PFL is now a global powerhouse in MMA,” said Donn Davis, PFL’s founder and chairman. “Our Bellator acquisition turbocharges PFL’s mission to innovate the sport and become the industry co-leader.”

The PIF’s buy-in made the transaction possible:PIF created sports investment company SRJ over the summer; SRJ then poured USD 100 mn into PFL in August, marking it the sport-focused fund’s first major investment. “There is no better global investor with industrial-strength capital [than PIF] to help us achieve our global vision,” Davis said in an interview last August.

The Kingdom is placing hefty bets on sports: We’ve been throwing ourselves into sports ranging from football, to golf, cage fighting, and cricket, with Saudi investors reportedly committing USD 6.3 bn the industry since 2021.

Hilton wants 85 hotels in Saudi Arabia by 2030 — a more ambitious rollout than previously announced

Hilton Worldwide Holdings aims to open more than 60 hotels in Saudi over the coming three to five years, aiming to build a portfolio of 85 active properties by 2028, Carlos Khneisser, vice president of development for Hilton in the Middle East and Africa, told Al Arabiya.

Saudi is a key global growth market for Hilton, which Khneisser says has already inked agreements to manage properties in Riyadh, Abha, and Jeddah. Hilton has more ongoing projects here than it does in any other EMEA market and is the fourth-busiest territory for Hilton globally.

That’s on the order of 10 properties more than Hilton had previously telegraphed. The operator had said earlier this year that it was looking to open 50 new properties here for 10 of its brands.

Some of that pipeline is already visible: The Conrad Riyadh Laysen Valley will be the Conrad brand’s first appearance in the capital city when it opens in 2025, while both the Hilton Hotels and Resorts and Canopy by Hilton brands will roll out in Abha in 2026.

REMEMBER- We’re just getting started in tourism. The expansion comes as the Kingdom aims to become a global leader in international travel and tourism. The Tourism Ministry has recently updated its target for total annual tourist trips to 150 mn by 2030, with an equal split between domestic and international travelers, according to earlier statements by Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb. The ministry wants to see the industry account for 10% of GDP by 2030.

Citi management shakeup has no real Saudi impact. PLUS: Aramco nabs Socar trader.

#1- Much ado about nothing (in the Mideast): Reuters and Bloomberg are giving plenty of ink to Citi’s management shakeup, which the bank described in statement as having demanded “some difficult, consequential decisions, but we believe they are the right steps to align our structure with our strategy.”

Not much is changing in our corner of the world: Former KSA boss Carmen Haddad(LinkedIn) is “moving into the client organization” as vice chair for Mideast wealth and banking, where she will “provide senior level dialogue and coverage of key sovereign / government and private banking clients” while also advising on the growth the Citi’s business in the Kingdom. It’s a role she has been fulfilling since summer.

Both wire services note that Fahad Al-Deweesh succeed Haddad as country head for KSA, but that’s a role he has had since June, according to his LinkedIn profile. Aldeweesh joined Citi from JPMorgan’s Saudi operation.

#2- Saudi Aramco has hired Dan House (LinkedIn) from Socar Trading to lead its relatively new crude trading business in the Americas. House had a nine-year run at Mercuria Energy Trading before joining Socar. Bloomberg broke the news.

War in Gaza, Al Nassr FC’s Ronaldo top the conversation on Saudi Twitter

Israel’s war in Gaza continues to dominate the conversation on Saudi Twitter X, with users tweeting their support for Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s recent tweets condemning the war (here, here, and here). We saw mor than 8.5k posts on the subject yesterday.

Christiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr FC Move continues to send us into a Twitter frenzy. We’re even more obsessed with Ronaldo after he joined Al Nassr FC in January, (رونالدو#). More than 63k posts on everything from game reports to simple outpourings of love flooded the twittersphere.

A “Riyal-Free Ronaldo” hashtag pokes Al Nassr FC signing of the football star: The hashtag (#ولا_ريال) pokes fun of sports journalist Mohamed Al Dowayesh's post claiming, “Al Nassr FC paid not on one SAR in the agreement for Cristiano Ronaldo, or any of other agreement, for that matter.”

Two fintech players get CMA nod to launch. PLUS: News from Aramco, Neom, Nabaa Al Saha and more

FINTECH-

Emkan, Safqah get CMA nod to launch investment + financing platforms:Fintech players Emkan Arabia and Safqa Financial have gotten the nod from their regulator to launch platforms offering investment services to individual investors. The Capital Market Authority made separate announcements here and here.

Emkan is an investing platform for beginners + offers crowdfunding as a service to MSMEs. Think of it as a smart dashboard that gives would-be investors their choice of privately held SMEs and issued sukuk. Beginner investors can make investment decisions through
“fast,safe procedures and steps,” Emkan writes on its website. Private companies can view it as a crowdfunding platform where they can raise funds by selling shares and sukuk to the public.

Safqa, meanwhile, will provide investment and financing to the real estate industry, according to their placeholder website.

OIL + GAS-

Aramco begins drilling operations at Spark:Oil giant Aramco launched operations at its main drilling and workover hub in King Salman Energy Park (Spark), a statement by Spark (pdf) said yesterday. The operational launch of the D&WO HQ and industrial facilities within the park will help it “act as a main enabler to support the localization of the oil and gas value chain,” the statement read.

What we know: More than 1k Aramco employees will work at the hub, which Spark is positioning as key to its goal of luring upstream suppliers and other players in the energy value chains to set up shop in the Kingdom.

What’s Spark? Located in the oil-rich Eastern Province, Spark is being developed as an industrial ecosystem and energy hub aimed at boosting the kingdom’s energy value chain. Spark aims to to contribute over USD 6 bn to Saudi Arabia’s GDP annually and create up to 100k direct and indirect jobs at maturity.

LOGISTICS-

NIDLP is inching closer to bringing online a third of the 59 logistics centers it is planning to open, Al Eqtisadiah reports, quoting the National Industrial Development Logistics Program (NIDLP) Head Suliman Al Mazroua yesterday. The program is currently working with state institutions and the private sector to open the final 38 centers, Al Mazroua added.

Background: Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman in August launched a plan to develop 59 logistics centers nationwide to boost infrastructure, create jobs and attract investment as part of our national drive to diversify the economy. The plan is to have 12 centers in Riyadh, 12 in Macca, 17 in the Eastern Region, and 18 distributed across the rest of the Kingdom.

NEOM-

Mayar Holding, Neom sign contract for irrigation maintenance at mega city: Leading escalators and elevators company Mayar Holding said its subsidiary Saudi Drip Irrigation signed a SAR 28.9 mn contract with Neom Company to carry out operation and maintenance work at the mega city for 24 months, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul on Tuesday.

About Saudi Drip Irrigation: Saudi Drip specializes in manufacturing drip irrigation systems, solid pipes applications, and accessories. It is also a leading producer of polyethylene drip pipes and related fittings in the kingdom.

REAL ESTATE-

Retal Urban Development secures contracts for Jeddah and Riyadh residential units:Retal Urban Development has signed sub-development agreements worth c. SAR 925 mn with state-owned National Housing Co. (NHC) to build residential complexes in Riyadh and Jeddah, the company said in separate statements to Tadawul (here and here).

What we know: The first contract, valued at SAR 290 mn, involves the development of 366 residential units in zones one and two of Riyadh’s Al Shifa neighborhood. The second contract, worth SAR 635 mn, involves the development of 803 residential units in South Jeddah.

Where the funds are coming from: The projects will be financed through off-plan sales and the company’s own cashflows and facilities, the real estate developer said. It expects to complete the projects within 42 months from the date of the agreement.

HEALTHCARE-

Nabaa Al Saha Medical ServicesCo. has lined up an SAR 11 mn loan from Al Rajhi Bank to support the expansion of its recently acquired facility Al Anwar Medical Hospital in Hail. The five-year facility will be used to finance renovations as well as the purchase of tools and equipment for the hospital. Naba Al Saha also operates Al Zahraa General Hospital and Manarat Al Haramain Pharmacy in Qatif.

TECH-

IT service provider 2P tapped to lead the Haj Ministry’s digital transformation: The Perfect Presentation Company for Commercial Services (better known as 2P) has landed a contract worth SAR 47 mn to provide tech services to the Hajj and Umrah Ministry, the company said in a disclosure to Tadawul yesterday. The three-year contract is expected to have a positive financial impact on the company’s earnings from 2024 through 2027.

2P wil digitize the ministry’s services infrastructure, including the operation and management of the ministry’s servers and systems as well as its unified communications systems.

INVESTMENT WATCH-

More investment for the Eastern Province: Eastern Province Governor Prince Saud bin Nayef inaugurated projects with a total investment cost of SAR 14 bn, Al Jazirah reported yesterday. The projects include new several malls, tourist resorts, cultural centers, and a hospital.

INS-

Walaa Cooperative Ins. gets okay to up capital by SAR 425 mn: The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has approved Walaa Cooperative Ins. Company ’s SAR 425 mn capital increase, Walaa said in a disclosure to Tadawul. The company will offer additional shares to existing shareholders and said it will provide more information on the increase soon. Walaa is raising funds to support its growth plans, it has previously said.

INFRASTRUCTURE-

Tadawul-listed Keir International has landed a SAR 247 contract from the state-owned National Grid Companyto “connect Al-Nazim bulk supply point with the 132 KV network in Riyadh,” it said in a regulatory filing yesterday. The project will take 20 months to deliver.

An explosion of IPO news out of the UAE

So. Much. News. From M&A to IPO, it’s been a busy 24 hours in across the Mideast:

#1- IPO WATCH- Healthcare giant PureHealth to list on the ADX in December: PureHealth, a unit of Abu Dhabi’s IHC, is set to go public on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) in December, the company said in a statement. The transaction is still pending regulatory approvals and there are no reports as to the potential size and valuation of the stake on offer. It’s unclear who has been retained to quarterback the transaction, but Royal Group’s Chimera was said to have been leading a previous exploration of an offer.

It’s been in the pipeline for a while now: IHC has explored an IPO for PureHealth in both 2021 and 2022. The company is majority owned by IHC and wealth fund ADQ, both of which are chaired by UAE national security advisor Sheikh Tahnon bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

#2- IPO WATCH- State-owned Dubai Taxi Corporation’s offering of offering up 25% of the company on the DFM was oversubscribed within the first hour of opening yesterday, Bloomberg reports. The offering could fetch as much as AED 1.2 bn (SAR 1.23 bn). Its bankers, including Citi, Emirates NBD, and Merrill Lynch, are expected to price the IPO a by Thursday, 30 November.

#3- IPO WATCH- Crypto miner Phoenix Group’s IPO on the Abu Dhabi Exchange was 33x oversubscribed, Coinbase reports. Phoenix shareholders are looking to sell c. 18% of the company in a USD 368 mn transaction.

#4- M&A WATCH- OSN+ and Anghami will merge, creating the Mideast’s largest streaming service in a bid to fend off global competitors including Netflix, Disney+, Apple Music, and Spotify. OSN Group will inject some USD 50 mn into Eddy Maroun’s Anghami, becoming majority shareholder as it pays USD 3.65 per share, or about 3.9x the stock’s average price for the past month, the two said in a statement.

The combined entity will have more than 120 mn registered users, with 2.5 mn of them being paid subscribers, and revenues of USD 100 mn, according to a joint statement.

ADX	9,541.76	-0.4% (YTD: +6.6%)
DFM	3,985.04	-0.4% (YTD: +19.5%)
Nasdaq Dubai UAE20	3,786.74	-0.8% (YTD: 5.6%)
USD : AED CBUAE	Buy 3.67	Sell 3.67
EIBOR	5.11% o/n	5.55% 1 yr
TASI	11,129.10	+0.1% (YTD: +0.1%)
EGX30	12,345	+10% (YTD: 122%)
S&P 500	4,538.19	-0.2% (YTD: +18.2%)
FTSE 100	7,481.99	-0.2% (YTD: +0.4%)
Euro Stoxx 50	4,331.90	-0.2% (YTD: +14.2%)
Brent crude	USD 77.63	-0.18%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 2.85	+0.2%
Gold	USD 2,018.30	-0.2%
BTC	USD 36,786.20	-1.7% (YTD: +123.4%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The TASI rose 0.09% yesterday on turnover of SAR 5.54 bn (x.xx% above the 90-day average). The index is up 6.21% YTD.

In the green: EIC (+8.7%), Al Saif Gallery (+5.4%) and Al Omran (+4.2%).

In the red: MIS (-3%), FIPCO (-2.9%) and SIPCHEM (-2.6%).

Meet the Microsoft tools IT will make you use next year

Microsoft really, really wants you to love Teams (ain’t gonna happen at Enterprise World Headquarters) and is rebranding Bing Chat as Copilot as it rolls AI across its core Office products.

We’ve long contended two things about Microsoft that we think are particularly relevant as we unpack the flood of announcements that made up last week’s Microsoft Ignite event:

Satya Nadella has remade Microsoft into a fierce competitor (his being blindsided by recent events OpenAI notwithstanding);
Like it or hate it, the operating system of big business is Microsoft Office. Not Windows. Not macOS, Android, iOS or ChromeOS. It’s not Slack or Salesforce or (sadly) Google Workplace. It’s Office.

Microsoft made that clearer than ever at Ignite, last week’s event for the IT professionals who will decide which tools you’re going to be using in the months and years to come. Here are the highlights you need to know about:

#1- Microsoft has officially launched Loop, its Notion clone. It’s just about as ugly as Notion, if less feature-filled …

…before you dismiss it: Loop is a message from the future. You can designate specific components (think: a table of financial indicators, a paragraph of boilerplate, or a to-do list with people @mentioned in them) and pull them into Teams or other Office apps. If you update the component in Loop, it automatically updates wherever else you’ve used it.

Yes, the numbers will update themselves — everywhere, automatically. Imagine that at scale in a PowerPoint as the tech behind it (branded fluid) rolls out. Now imagine how many 100s of hours your team is going to save updating an IPO / M&A / board / investor presentation as the numbers keep changing and changing and changing…

#2- Teams will redecorate your background. Didn’t need that, but thanks.

#3- Teams will turn you into a legless, Meta-style 3D VR avatar using Microsoft Mesh, a “solution that enables your distributed workforce to connect like never before in a 3D immersive space, helping virtual meetings and events feel more like face-to-face connections.” Take an antinauseant, then watch, runtime: 1:01.

#4- Microsoft is rolling its inchoate, half-baked planning tools into what looks set to be a single, smart, streamlined app sometime early in 2024. Microsoft Planner will absorb To-Do, Planner, and Project for the Web — and will include a Copilot AI integration.

#5- Bing Chat has been renamed Copilot — and it’s going to permeate everything from PowerPoint to Teams, Microsoft and Outlook. Copilot Studio is its version of the AI app store that OpenAI rolled out before Sam Altman got thrown under a bus.

Wait, wait: Where’s Microsoft 365 Copilot? The full integration of AI into Microsoft’s tools was announced months ago and is now rolling out to 600 big business customers around the world who (a) managed to get approved and (b) can shell out USD 30 / user / month for a minimum of 600 seats.

CALENDAR

NOVEMBER

19-21 November (Sunday-Tuesday): The Global Entrepreneurship Week, Taif Chamber, Al Taif.

19-23 November (Sunday-Thursday): Transport and Logistics Week, Riyadh, Khobar, Jeddah, and Medinah.

21-23 November (Tuesday-Thursday): ARABAL 2023 Conference, Hilton Riyadh Hotel & Residences, Hilton Riyadh Hotel & Residences, Riyadh.

23-25 November (Thursday-Saturday); Saudi International Football (SAIF): Expo, Jeddah Center For Forums & Events, Jeddah.

26-28 November (Sunday-Wednesday): Reliability & Maintainability Conference & Exhibition 2023, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Al Khobar.

26-28 November (Sunday-Tuesday): NCT Middle East, Riyadh.

27-29 November (Monday-Wednesday): Saudi HORECA, Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center, Riyadh.

30 November (Thursday): Start of Noor Riyadh show, King Abdullah Financial District, Riyadh.

DECEMBER

4-7 December (Monday-Thursday): FIABCI Global Leadership Summit, Riyadh.

5 December (Tuesday): Taxcom Middle East, Riyadh.

5-6 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Education Investment Saudi, Riyadh.

6-7 December (Wednesday- Thursday): Collection and Recovery Middle East Summit, Riyadh.

16 December (Saturday): end of Noor Riyadh show, segment “The Bright Side of the Desert Moon, Riyadh.

18-20 December (Monday-Wednesday): Smart Grid Conference, Riyadh.

19-20 December (Tuesday- Wednesday): Saudi Airport Exhibition, Riyadh.

19-21 December (Tuesday-Thursday): International Digital Signage Expo 2023, Riyadh.

2024

JANUARY

9-11 January (Tuesday-Thursday): Future Minerals Forum, Riyadh.

14-17 January (Sunday-Wednesday): The International Exhibition for construction and building materials (Saudi Projects), Jeddah.

28-31 January (Sunday-Wednesday): Saudi Franchise Expo 2024, Jeddah.

FEBRUARY

4-6 February (Sunday-Tuesday): SIMEC International Expo, Riyadh.

5-7 February (Monday-Wednesday): Saudi HORECA 2024, Jeddah.

12-14 February (Monday-Wednesday): The International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC), Riyadh.

22 February (Thursday): Founding Day (national holiday)

26-29 February (Monday-Thursday): Big 5 Construct Saudi, Riyadh.

26-29 February (Monday-Thursday): FM EXPO SAUDI, Riyadh.

26-29 February (Monday-Thursday): Stone and Service Saudi Arabia, Riyadh.

MARCH

2 March (Friday): end of Noor Riyadh show, segment “Refracted Identities, Shared Futures”, Riyadh.

4-6 March (Monday-Wednesday): International Conference on Sand and Dust Storms in the Arabian Peninsula, Riyadh.

4-7 March (Monday-Thursday): LEAP 2024, Riyadh.

11 March (Monday): Flag Day (national holiday)

Signposted to happen sometime in March:

Ramadan

APRIL

Signposted to happen sometime in April:

Eid Al-Fitr (national holiday)

MAY

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

5 June (Wednesday): World Environment Day.

Signposted to happen sometime in June:

Eid Al-Adha (national holiday)

SEPTEMBER

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

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

DECEMBER

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

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