Two of three big regional IPOs in the pipeline have now pulled the plug

Good morning, wonderful people. With no end to the war in sight and weeks to go before summer vacation season really gets underway, sentiment is drab across MENA+. (Maybe Morocco is the exception? They seem _relatively_ happy over there…?)

Two of the three big regional IPOs on which bankers had been counting have now pulled the plug after Saudi contractor Mutlaq Al Ghowairi yanked its USD 800 mn Tadawul offering. It did so shortly after our Egypt desk reported that Banque du Caire had decided to make it official and push to the fall window.

^^ We have the rundown, plus a look at how the Qatar Investment Authority’s strategy is changing as the war grinds on, in this morning’s news well, below.

No regional IPOS will mean just a little bit more liquidity from our part of the world chasing SpaceX shares. The world’s largest IPO is priced at USD 135 per share, with allocation set for Thursday and the start of trading to take place Friday. Elon is counting on retail investors all over the planet to make him the world’s first trillionaire.

Watch the volatility: BNP Paribas thinks investors around the world may liquidate as much USD 50 bn in other stocks to snap up positions in SpaceX — but CoinDesk says it has so far found no signs folks are selling-down their crypto holdings to take a piece of Elon.

Today’s point-counterpoint: With no sign that the war in the Gulf is about to end, our new reality is about positioning ourselves for the eventual (🤲) upswing while absorbing short-term pain.

POINT- Private credit heavyweight Blue Owl, facing redemptions amid stress in its core market, opened its regional HQ in Abu Dhabi, it said in a statement. By our count, it follows at least 15 other heavyweights including Bain, Barings, and Capital Group into ADGM and DIFC since the war began. Blue Owl already has deep roots in the UAE, including with Lunate and Mubadala.

COUNTERPOINT- One in four UAE employers plans to cut headcount in the third quarter (up from just 7% three months ago) and net hiring sentiment has collapsed 43 points q-o-q to +17%, according to ManpowerGroup’s latest Employment Outlook Survey (pdf) of UAE employers. (The UAE is the only Arab economy in MENA+ covered by ManpowerGroup.)

The upside: Finance and healthcare companies still expect to hire, the survey found.

FINALLY- CTOs aren’t the only ones who will want to read our sitdown on cybersecurity with Mashreq’s information security lead. CEOs and leaders of any business that relies on digital infrastructure will want to give it a think. –Patrick