Sawiris-backed HOF Capital leads buyout of Porsche’s stake in Bugatti

HOF Capital, the US VC co-founded by Onsi Naguib Sawiris, is leading the consortium buying Porsche’s full stake in Bugatti — with Abu Dhabi’s BlueFive Capital as its largest backer, according to a statement (pdf). The transaction hands HOF a 45% stake in the Bugatti Rimac JV, alongside Croatia’s Rimac Group at 55%, and pegs the valuation in the USD 1.2 bn range that we flagged back in December. Neither party disclosed the value of the transaction.

HOF was founded in 2016 by Onsi Sawiris, Hisham Elhaddad, and Fady Yacoub and now manages over USD 7 bn, with LP-backed positions in OpenAI, SpaceX, Anthropic, and Neuralink. After regulatory clearances expected before year-end, Rimac Group will run Bugatti Rimac as a strategic partner to HOF and BlueFive — which has itself scaled to USD 7.4 bn in AUM since launching in 2024. HOF will become Rimac Group’s largest shareholder.

Dubai Investments may push the IPO of its real estate unit, Dubai Investments Park (DIP), to fall as the ongoing war in the Gulf saps investor interest in the region. CEO Khalid Bin Kalban told the regional press that shareholders will decide by 15 May on the 25% float. Bin Kalban’s holding in DIP is still worth as much as AED 11 bn (USD 3 bn). The real estate market in the UAE has been a tale of two cities since the war broke out, with Abu Dhabi holding ground and sales in Dubai slowing, as we note below.

Saudi IT services outfit Dar Al Balad has opened the books on a Tadawul main-market IPO, saying it would price the offering at SAR 9.25-9.75 per share, per a bourse filing (pdf). The company is targeting up to SAR 204.75 mn in proceeds from the§ sale of a 30% stake. Dar Al Balad faces a June deadline to list before its CMA approval for the transaction lapses. It’s the first IPO to go to market in the GCC since the outbreak of the war.

Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approved the USD 110 bn merger with Paramount-Skydance last week, per a statement. Some USD 24 bn of the financing is being backstopped by Saudi Arabia’s PIF and other GCC sovereign wealth funds. While Gulf sovereigns have been rotating toward domestic industrial and defense capacity since the Iran war, they’re still committing capital to M&A and other transactions abroad that they see as strategic — one way or another.

DFM-listed Al Salam Bankout of Bahrainsold (pdf) its entire 20.9% stake inGulf AfricanBank (Gab), Kenya’s largest Islamic bank, on Thursday, saying in a regulatory filing that the move was part of a strategy to “focus on core markets and expand market operations. The deal was run by Al Salam’s asset and wealth management arm ASB Capital. Gab was founded in 2014 by Kenyan and GCC investors. Current shareholders include Dubai-owned Istithmar World, the IFC, and Saudi investor Abdullah Al Romaizan.

Market Snapshot

Tadawul 0.11% • ADX 0.43% • DFM 0.68% • EGX30 0.09%

Brent USD 106.92 / bbl • Gold USD 4,727 / oz • USD / SAR 3.75 • USD / EGP 52.60