Good morning, friends, and welcome to a Kingdom where the money has picked a direction, and everything else is rearranging itself to face the same way.
Start with the sovereign: A borrowing plan that was declared finished in May is back at the window in September, and the order book didn’t blink. The plan may have changed, or the change of course was the plan to begin with. Neither option is a bearish read on the market — USD 12 bn of demand is the market telling you the appetite ceiling hasn’t been hit.
Then look down the ticker…: One of Tadawul’s steel names is, on the revenue split, mostly a power company now. The process took three years, happened without a name change, and serves as a sign that the same gravity that’s acting on the government is also moving a mid-cap.
… And then there’s Leap, which followed a familiar blueprint on its second day, getting smaller and more crowded at the same time. While the first day is for the big headline announcements, day two is for the people who came to actually close something. This year, they were closing on data centers, increasingly with local capital rather than the foreign cheque that used to be the headline.
It’s a lot of business moving as usual, even as regional tensions continue to flare. Two tankers carrying Saudi oil were struck within minutes of each other on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports, citing Kpler and Marisks. The tankers — one of which was Saudi-flagged, the other Liberian-flagged — were each carrying 2 mn bbl of Saudi crude, which they loaded at Juaymah last week.
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ANB goes USD hunting
Arab National Bank (ANB) is lining up a USD-denominated Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital sukuk offering, although there’s no word yet on how much it plans to raise or the final terms, ANB said in a Tadawul filing. The sukuk will be offered through a special-purpose vehicle under the bank’s newly updated international AT1 sukuk program.
ADVISORS- ANB appointed ANB Capital, Arab Bank, Arqaam Capital, ASB Capital, Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC, Mizuho International, Standard Chartered, and Warba Bank as joint lead managers and bookrunners.
Robots in the ring
Humanoid robots are stepping into the ring in Riyadh: Hero Esports will stage the Middle East’s first humanoid robot kickboxing event, CyberHero x Riyadh, on Wednesday, 9 September, with 10 EngineAI T800 robots facing off in a live combat showcase, according to a press release. Robots from other manufacturers are also expected to take part. Backed by Savvy Games Group and Tencent, Hero Esports plans to take CyberHero to other cities after Riyadh.
A Seychellois visitor
Seychelles Vice President Sebastian Pillay is in town this week to hold discussions with officials from the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), according to a statement. The talks will focus on securing financial backing for Seychelles' priority national development projects ahead of the bank’s next board meeting later this year.
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The big story abroad
The regional war is once again coming to a head, with the US launching a barrage of airstrikes on Iran yesterday, attacking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets. The strikes — which focused on air defence and radar systems alongside minelaying and communications capabilities — were in retaliation for Tehran’s attempt to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump said.
Tehran’s response? Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that US attacks could lead to a blockade on all oil exports through the critical waterway. Meanwhile, Iran’s military threatened to inflict high costs on US forces in the region.
Bond crisis continues: Global bond markets extended their slide yesterday as worries over inflation and government debt threatened higher borrowing rates for consumers and enterprises. Global bond yields reached multi-decade highs in Japan, the UK, Germany, France, and the US, where the 10-year Treasury yield edged close to 4.8%, a level not seen since January 2025.
In the M&A space: Nestle is looking to sell its mainstream vitamins and supplements unit to US private equity outfit Yellow Wood Partners for USD 1 bn as CEO Philipp Navratil limits the Swiss foodmaker’s strategic scope. The transaction — featuring brands like Nature’s Bounty and Osteo Bi-Flex — continues a series of divestitures, following this year’s sale of half of the firm's water business.



