Steadright, Janus Henderson, and Ajialuna all fall behind schedule as Mubadala holds its pace

The theme of the day appears to be transactions that are running behind schedule: Steadright has canceled its second Moroccan acquisition in four months, Janus Henderson’s MENA private credit fund reached a second close roughly 10 months after it said it would and hasn’t named a final date, and Ajialuna has been on the block for a year against a sale once expected to close in November 2025.

Mubadala will deploy another USD 39 bn this year, matching last year’s pace. The sovereign wealth fund is planning the same figure it invested through 2025, CFO Carlos Obeid said, according to The National. Asia is where the extra attention goes, with exposure up from 10% to 13% of the portfolio and China, India, South Korea, and Japan the named targets, adding to positions Mubadala already holds in all four.

The weightings put that in proportion. North America accounts for 44% of the fund’s investments, the UAE 24%, and Europe 15%, so the Asia build is still small against where the money sits.

Oman now clears both FTSE Russell bars for an upgrade to secondary emerging. It has met both the Quality of Markets and size requirements and sits on the upgrade watchlist, with the next classification update due in April 2027. In April, it passed the nine Quality of Markets criteria but fell short on investable market capitalization and securities count, holding two mid caps and three small caps against a requirement of three large or mid caps and five securities.

What it’s worth: MSX CEO Haitham Al Salmi put the inflow at c. OMR 175 mn, depending on Oman’s final weighting. January-September value traded has gone from c. OMR 650 mn in 2021 to OMR 9.7 bn, and market capitalization from OMR 22 bn to OMR 39.2 bn. Five stocks made up about 75% of September’s traded value.

A Gulf school operator is in advanced talks for a Saudi one at up to USD 500 mn. Alephya Education, majority-owned by US private equity firm TA Associates, is negotiating to buy a controlling stake in Riyadh-based Ajialuna Educational from Sulaiman Alrajhi Holding, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter. Ajialuna runs 10 private and international schools across Saudi Arabia with more than 17k students, and Alephya 15 across the GCC with more than 20k, putting the combined group at 25 schools and upwards of 37k students.

REMEMBER- Ajialuna has been on the block for a year. Dubai’s GEMS Education was among the bidders last September, when a sale was expected to close as early as November 2025 and Alrajhi was said to be seeking a full exit rather than the controlling stake now in play.

Janus Henderson’s shariah-compliant MENA private credit fund is two-thirds raised. MENA Private Credit Fund IV has reached USD 191 mn in commitments at its second close, against a USD 300 mn target, the asset manager said in a statement (pdf). The new money came from institutional investors and family offices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which the firm did not name.

The timetable has moved: When the fund reached first close at USD 125.5 mn in September 2025, Janus Henderson expected a second close by end-2025 and a final close by mid-2026. It has not given a new final-close date. SIDF Investment Company, Saudi Venture Capital Company, and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners — a Mubadala Capital and Alpha Wave Global joint venture — anchored the first close.

A Canadian junior has canceled its second Moroccan acquisition in four months. Steadright Critical Minerals said in its first-quarter filing it has scrapped the June agreement with Maghreb Atlas Trading and Mining & Research Company for half of a company holding quarrying, crushing and grinding assets, Morocco World News reports. It gave no reason and plans to reopen negotiations.

What it would have paid: 5 mn Steadright shares to each seller at CAD 0.20, EUR 700k into a lawyer’s trust account, and up to CAD 480k toward site repairs, to give it crushing and grinding capacity in Morocco. It still holds the TitanBeach titanium and Copper Valley projects and a binding MoU on the Goundafa mine, and says it remains focused on Morocco’s critical minerals.

ALSO WORTH KNOWING

ADX-listed logistics firm Agility Global has secured a EUR 500 mn credit facility from international lenders, according to a disclosure (pdf). The proceeds go toward its ongoing financing requirements, and the facility matures in a year with certain extension options in place.

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