Good afternoon, friends. Today’s sign of the times is how much more expensive it has become for private jet charters in and out of Saudi Arabia.
A Riyadh-Geneva private jet charter that went for about EUR 60k before King Khalid International closed on 10 October is now fetching EUR 94k, with charter prices out of the Kingdom up more than 50% and war-risk premiums stacked on top, operators and brokers tell the Financial Times. Charters to Europe are reaching USD 150k and even UAE hops are going for USD 30-50k, EnterJets founder Charles Robinson said. Supply is doing most of the work.
The airport reopened on Sunday, flights still needcase-by-case GACA permission, and several international carriers remain suspended. FII10’s move to 2027 takes out the week that would have tested all of this hardest, with Reuters having already shifted its NEXT Gulf conference to October 2027. The charter market is pricing a thin schedule rather than a full one, so the real test of capacity comes as the long-haul carriers return through November.
Meanwhile, Freshfields is learning the hazards of putting your inside thoughts on an email chain: Freshfields has apologized “unreservedly” for a comment about Middle Eastern sovereign wealth investors in a leaked email chain, the Financial Times reports. Global managing partner Alan Mason and US corporate and M&A co-head Ethan Klingsberg were discussing a spinout of the firm’s legal AI unit, which they reckoned could be worth bns with outside investors.
The mea culpa: Klingsberg wrote that they would approach “sophisticated investors that are respected by the rest of the investor community for their leadership,” which “probably” ruled out “Middle Eastern sovereign wealth money.” Mason then forwarded the exchange to a large internal distribution list, and recipients took screenshots before the recall. The firm said the comment “does not reflect the position or beliefs of the firm,” that it holds its Middle East clients “in the highest regard” and that it has “enormous respect for the discerning leadership and global impact of our clients.” Freshfields has offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and has worked for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Qatar Investment Authority, Kuwait Finance House and DP World. –Salma
The IPO accountability reckoning is here: The Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) closes public comment tomorrow on a draft that would make underwriting banks buy any IPO shares investors don’t take, force institutional bidders to prove the cash behind their orders, and require issuers to publish at least a year of forecasts.
The CMA has been circling the gap between covered books and post-listing performance for most of the past year, a drive that has accelerated under new leadership. Of 37 Saudi companies that floated on the main market Tadawul and the small-cap Nomu in 2025, 29 were below their IPO price as of the summer, according to Argaam estimates. In 2026, only two main-market listings made it, while another two — Mutlaq Al Ghowairi and Arabian Diyar — walked back their plans after getting the ball rolling on pricing or bookbuilding, citing unfavorable market conditions. And many of those who were planning a listing shelved or postponed their plans in 2026 — seventeen companies had applications pending for Tadawul’s main market at the end of June, but the CMA approved none in 2Q and 3Q, according to our trackers.
The war is not the main driver of the rewrite, but it has made it urgent. Low oil, conflict with Iran, disrupted oil exports, and rising US yields have “exposed the shortcomings in IPO regulations, not the scarcity of good companies,” Hasnain Malik, emerging market equity strategist at Tellimer, tells EnterpriseAM.
The clearest case-in-point: Budget carrier Flynas — the Gulf’s largest 2025 IPO and the region’s first airline listing in nearly two decades — drew around SAR 409 bn (c. USD 109 bn) of institutional orders for a USD 1.1 bn offering in June 2025, a book 100x oversubscribed. It priced at SAR 80, but now trades around SAR 50, down close to 37%.
The IPO blues are not exclusive to Riyadh. The UAE has so far had no IPOs this year, although it’s set to end the drought in 4Q as Dubai Investments Park sounds out institutional investors through 26 October. Across the GCC, IPOs last year brought in USD 5.8 bn from 42 IPOs, the thinnest haul in five years and 54.8% below 2024, according to Kamco Invest data. Of those listings, 28 closed the year underwater.
The lesson is the same across the IPOs that tanked: “A very large covered book doesn’t necessarily mean the demand behind it is real, and it doesn’t ensure strong post-listing performance,” Salah Shamma, head of MENA equities at Franklin Templeton, tells EnterpriseAM.
That’s why several regulators are rewriting different parts of their capital market rules for better accountability: The UAE’s new Capital Markets Law has reshaped prospectus liability to fall on the board of issuers. Oman is mandating a stand-alone investment banking license for capital markets. Turkey has capped hedge-fund exposure in a single stock’s freefloat or multiple stocks held by one group, which is more relevant to post-IPO trading rather than the issuance itself.
But each is reaching for a different accountability lever. “I see convergence in the objective, but not in the problem being solved,” Tahir Abbas, vice president and head of research at Ubhar Capital, tells EnterpriseAM.
Three markets, three different headaches
In Riyadh, the problem is demand that looks bigger than it actually is. The CMA draft would make the underwriting agreement binding before book-building begins, rather than before retail subscription, as is currently the case. From that moment, the bank must buy any unsold shares, up to the whole deal. Banks taking institutional orders would have to check each bid against cash or near-cash the investor actually holds, including securities it can sell within the payment window. Issuers would be required to publish at least a year of forecasts. The provisions take effect 2 November if approved.
The UAE had the tools, but not the legal cover. ADX and DFM rules allowed banks to stabilize a new listing’s price, but the old federal law treated any trade aimed at moving prices as a crime, so banks hired third-party stabilization managers to stay safe. The new Capital Markets Law, in force since 1 January, regularizes the status of third-party stabilizers and makes the issuer’s board, executive management and advisers liable for a misleading prospectus, with fines of up to AED 200 mn. “From an investor’s seat, the one that matters most is board liability for the prospectus,” Shamma says, adding that “accountability is a big part of why investors trust the disclosure they’re pricing.”
Oman is giving investment banking a license of its own. “The change is less about bringing underwriting out of the informal sector and more about institutionalizing Oman’s investment banking industry under a dedicated capital markets framework,” Abbas tells us. The older rules allowed commercial banks a license to act as issue manager coordinating with the regulator, the exchange, the subscription banks, and the underwriter, with traditional liability for damages caused by negligence, but is now changing that in what appears to be a bid to remove any potential conflict of interest.
Omani commercial banks will now have to spin out a dedicated investment bank unit with its own separate license to conduct capital market activity. Omifco’s USD 675 mn float in June is the old model at work. Bank Muscat acted as sole issue manager and joint global coordinator alongside Société Générale, plus the collecting bank with its Islamic arm, Meethaq; the two together, by the bank’s own account, “accounted for a majority of collections for the IPO.” That’s four roles for one commercial-banking license on one transaction. The Executive Regulation, in force since 27 July, gives banks three years to move most securities work into separate firms, though underwriting can stay in-house.
Pick your backstop
Riyadh’s draft goes straight at the bank’s incentives. “If underwriters commit to taking the full [transaction] from the start of book-building, they have a much stronger incentive to challenge aggressive valuations and weak or poorly funded demand,” Abbas says. Malik would go further and cap each institution’s order relative to the size of its fund to stop “the build-up of fictitious demand and an overinflated share price at the time of listing.”
The timing is where investors and the Saudi CMA differ. Most international markets sign the firm commitment at pricing, backed by a greenshoe and stabilization, Shamma notes. “Internationally, banks commit at pricing, once demand is known, so their risk lasts only days. Commit at bookbuilding, and the bank is guaranteeing the deal before it sees the book.”
The banks are pushing back. Lenders warn that carrying an entire offering could breach their equity-holding limits and further chill listings, Bloomberg says. The draft has a sharper edge too: If the bank’s resulting stake stops the issuer from meeting listing requirements, the shares can’t list, but the bank still has to buy them.
That leaves a bank facing three risks. A stake it may not be allowed to hold; a commitment that eats into its regulatory capital, liquidity and exposure limits; and in the worst case, shares in an unlisted company with no public-market exit. And some fear the rules would leave the field to a handful of big domestic banks who are able to take on these risks.
What rules can’t fix is valuation. The new rules “may avoid inflated valuation at the time of listing and improve the prospects of share price performance thereafter,” Malik says. Even so, “if an owner’s only motivation is price and that price isn’t there, then there’s a disconnect to bridge, and something needs to adjust,” Shamma says. He adds that many sellers come to market for reasons beyond price: Institutionalizing the business, accessing deeper and more diverse pools of capital, or securing continuity for the next generation.
The next gap sits after the bell
Listing day isn’t where accountability should stop. “I believe the next accountability gap is likely to be what happens after the allocation,” Abbas says. The first step, he argues, is disclosure around how concentrated allocations are among major investors, how much they sell shortly after listing, and whether post-listing trading reflects long-term interest or short-term participation. “Accountability should not end once an IPO is listed. It should also consider book-building quality, pricing decisions, disclosure standards, and investor behavior after listing,” he says, “while still allowing investors the flexibility to make their own trading decisions.”
One regulator has moved onto that frontier — and the reason is almost the complete opposite. Istanbul’s Capital Markets Board capped hedge-fund exposure in late August after a run of unusual returns at funds concentrated in low-float stocks. Tera Portföy’s First Hedge Fund (now in liquidation) had reported a 2025 return above 4,000% in what now proved to be a case of manipulation to inflate prices and the free-float size of a few stocks. Under the new rules, a hedge fund can hold between 2% and 8% of a company’s freefloating shares, with the tighter cap biting on the smallest free floats, and no more than 20% of its portfolio in securities issued by companies controlled by its own management. We covered the fund blow-up and its wind-down earlier this month.
Turkey’s new caps stand out because they measure them against the freefloat, not the larger size of the company. Most MENA markets limit a fund’s exposure to a single stock by reference to the fund’s own size — a cap on how much of the fund can sit in one issuer. Istanbul caps how much of the issuer’s freefloat a fund can hold, keyed to how thin that freefloat is. One is a rule about diversification; the other is a rule about market concentration. The first protects the fund’s investors from undiversified risk. The second protects the stock from a single fund owning enough of its tradable supply to move the price. That’s because the regulator is responding to a different problem: Manipulation, not book-building credibility.
What’s worth watching in Saudi’s new rules is whether the bank’s commitment still starts at book-building or moves to pricing, as Shamma suggests. DIP’s investor meetings run through next Monday, 26 October, the first live read on the UAE’s new regime. Omani banks have until July 2029 to spin off their securities arms, and the first Omani IPO under the new rules has yet to be announced.
The UK is deploying RAF Typhoon fighters to help defend Saudi cities and infrastructure against Houthi drones and missiles, according to a statement from the UK Defense Ministry. The jets “will not conduct offensive strikes”; their role is interception, backed by an A400M heavy-lift transport and British advisers on the ground.
It’s the strongest backing yet from a major Western ally, coming as Saudi appeals to Washington have drawn no direct US intervention, and as Turkey’s parliament has yet to ratify the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement (MJDA). France has sent radar systems to Yanbu, the frequently targeted Red Sea port, and Egypt is due to weigh possible support in the coming days. Gulf states have voiced support for the Kingdom but stopped short of joining the war against the Houthis.
In the meantime, the Houthis haven’t let up: The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the group towards Riyadh and subsequently destroyed its launch platform. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said Saudi forces carried out 93 airstrikes and missile attacks in the past 24 hours, striking Al Jawf, Taiz, Saada, Marib, Hajjah, Lahij, Amran, and Ibb using F-15 and Typhoon aircraft.
Gulf carriers are cutting flights to Saudi Arabia through this Saturday, 24 October. This includes Flydubai’s Riyadh, Dammam, and Abha flights and Qatar Airways’ Riyadh and Dammam trips, while reducing Jeddah services to four daily flights. Etihad canceled all flights to Dammam and Riyadh, as well as some Jeddah flights.
Houthi attacks have prompted King Khalid International Airport to tell airlines they must request permission before landing or taking off, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Airlines also cannot use Riyadh’s main airport, which the Houthis have targeted, for emergencies.
Meanwhile, in the open waters…
A Qatari LNG tanker is taking the risky shortcut to Europe. The unnamed vessel, loaded in Qatar in August, is sailing north through the Red Sea and signaling Poland as its next destination, Bloomberg reports. Most ships now avoid the Red Sea and sail around Africa, which can add almost two weeks to a one-way voyage.
An LNG tanker came under fire off Yemen on Saturday. A small boat fired two rounds at an unidentified LNG tanker in the Gulf of Aden, southeast of Yemen’s Al Mukalla port, on Saturday, and the tanker’s security team returned fire, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations. Bloomberg’s tracking data suggests the Poland-bound carrier was the only LNG tanker in the area at the time. The vessel has since continued its voyage, and its identity is unconfirmed.
Why this matters: The country was Qatar’s third-largest EU customer in 2025, importing around 1.6 mn tons of Qatari LNG. Polish energy company Orlen, which holds a long-term QatarEnergy contract, has since turned to US shipments to replace disrupted Qatari supplies. The cargo is arriving into a European market holding its thinnest seasonal gas stocks in over a decade, with prices at a near four-year high, leaving buyers with less breathing room ahead of winter.
Morocco is looking to hit 5% average annual growth between 2027 and 2031, as Prime Minister Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri’s government looks to widen the country’s tax base, introduce income tax reforms, raise direct social assistance, and hike private investments. The five-year economic plan, which El Mansouri — the country’s newly-minted premier — presented to parliament on Monday, will go up for a vote at the House of Councillors today, according to Morocco World News.
BY THE NUMBERS- El Mansouri’s 2031 plan sees inflation holding at 2%, a budget deficit under 3% of GDP, and public debt down to around 62% of GDP. The IMF sees Morocco’s GDP growing at a 4.7% clip this year and inflation averaging at 0.9% by the end of the year, before accelerating to 1.4% in 2027.
The priority that runs through the five-year program and the 2027 state budget: Directing money towards what households pay, rather than rolling out new programs. Under the program, the government plans to double monthly direct social assistance to MAD 1k (USD 102.2) by the end of the five years, enforcing a minimum basic pension of MAD 3k per month (USD 306.5), raising widows’ pension benefits to 100% of the relevant amount from 50% currently, and introducing relief measures for utility bills, Morocco World News reports.
IN CONTEXT- Direct assistance already reaches some 4 mn families and 5 mn children, and mandatory health ins. covers 87% of the population, so the term’s work is on the size of the payment rather than the reach of the system.
The agenda puts youth employment, expanded health coverage, and direct housing support at the top of the line. El Mansouri and her government plan to train 100k young people each year to employer specifications, back 60k businesses with incubation and easier access to financing, and expand affordable housing. Preparations for the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco is co-hosting with Spain and Portugal, come with a commitment to write young Moroccans into project contracts.
Private capital is expected to carry two-thirds of national investment, which makes the state’s role one of procurement and support. The government is directing 30% of public contracts to Moroccan SMEs, targeting 26 mn tourists by 2030, and working through the Investment Charter and continued reform of the Regional Investment Centres. It also wants domestic industry to displace imports of finished products.
Institutional credibility is where the programme makes its sharpest commitments. The government plans to criminalize illicit enrichment and conflicts of interest and to improve the efficiency of public enterprises. “We believe that institutions will not regain public trust without an effective fight against corruption and conflicts of interest,” El Mansouri said.
The Gulf has committed to providing France with 295k tons of diesel a month to France, covering a little over 10% of French consumption. The supply agreements, which French President Emmanuel Macron secured during his tour of the region, will see the UAE and Bahrain each supplying 100k tons a month, while Saudi Arabia is guaranteeing 95k tons in each of October and November, the National reports. Kuwait, meanwhile, has committed diesel and kerosene for the French overseas territories of Mayotte and Reunion. Macron closed his tour in Qatar, but no energy agreements were announced.
IN CONTEXT- Macron is facing unrest back at home, where riots broke out over the weekend after weeks of protests over the country’s education system and the cost of living, including high energy prices. The French president’s visit to the region comes a few weeks after he pledged troops, radar systems, and defense equipment to help Saudi Arabia protect Yanbu in its ongoing war with the Houthis.
The region is selling into a market that has repriced sharply. European diesel is near USD 200 / bbl against roughly USD 80 in January, with the war in Iran and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries driving up fuel costs. Gulf governments are also in talks with Paris about lowering marine ins. costs so larger volumes can move through the Strait of Hormuz.
Abu Dhabi used the visit to deepen its industrial position in Paris. The UAE and France signed a strategic defense partnership, according to Wam, building on state defense firm Edge’s decision to set up its European headquarters in Paris, following a separate defense cooperation agreement inked between the UAE and France earlier this year. As part of the expansion, a facility in Bordeaux is set to be its engineering and manufacturing core in France. The state defense firm has also been looking to Italy and Spain, as it looks to establish its European footprint.
On the technology side, G42, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), and G42 subsidiary Analog each signed MoUs yesterday with Paris-based AMI Labs during, the Abu Dhabi Media Office says. Adnoc Gas, Adnoc Refining, Schneider Electric, and Technip Energies signed the energy agreements alongside them.
Kuwait also signed a handful of agreements with France on Monday, with aviation carrying most of the commercial weight, as the Kuwait Investment Authority and the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences each signed agreements with Airbus. The rest of the eight agreements tracking the same sectors Paris worked in Abu Dhabi: A defense cooperation letter of intent signed by Defense Minister Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al Salem Al Sabah and French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin, an exploratory data and AI agreement with France’s Bertin IT, an investment promotion declaration through KDIPA, a cancer care arrangement with the Gustave Roussy institute, and an academic and scientific cooperation declaration.
MEANWHILE- As Macron tours the region, Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tarik is in the UK to work the same circuit. The three-day visit to London — the first by an Omani ruler in 44 years — will see the sultan at Downing Street today for talks with Prime Minister Andy Burnham on investment, security, defense and education, Arab News reports. An agreement to raise two-way investment under the existing UK-Oman Sovereign Investment Partnership is expected to be signed at the meeting, covering renewable energy, technology, critical minerals, space, healthcare and financial services.
HSBC moved a senior wealth executive from Hong Kong to run its Gulf wealth business. Sami Abouzahr (LinkedIn) is now head of international wealth and premier banking for the UAE and the Middle East, effective immediately, the bank said in a statement. Abouzahr has spent more than 20 years at HSBC, most recently serving as head of investments and managed solutions in Hong Kong, a role he took in July 2025.
The hire continues HSBC’s push into Gulf wealth management. The bank opened the region’s first wealth center at its Jumeirah branch in Dubai in 2025, with a second planned for Abu Dhabi later this year, and has doubled the number of staff serving wealthier clients.
MNT-Halan closed its first day up 6.6% at EGP 26.20, valuing the Egyptian fintech at some EGP 41.9 bn (USD 770 mn). MNT Tech Holding for Financial Investments gave back most of an intraday rally that reached EGP 28.80, with 46.2 mn shares worth EGP 1.26 bn (USD 23.16 mn) changing hands across roughly 21.7k trades.
Foreign demand alone could have filled the book, founder and CEO Mounir Nakhla told our Egypt desk on the sidelines of the bell-ringing. “In terms of demand, we could have covered it all through international investors, but we chose to allocate to our local partners as well,” Nakhla said, adding that orders came from institutions, hedge funds, long-only funds, and family offices.
Next one in line: Banque du Caire has lined up foreign buyers for more than half its IPO. Four cornerstones have committed up to USD 256 mn — UK hedge fund Helikon, London’s Redwheel, Africa-focused Sustainable Capital, and the UAE’s Waha Investments — according to BdC’s preliminary offering circular (pdf). That covers roughly 60% of the base offering and some 63% of the institutional tranche if the shares price just below the EGP 5.06 midpoint of the EGP 4.82-5.30 range, by our math.
Who’s in for what: Mauritius-based Sustainable Capital, which buys African listed equities, is down for 784.7 mn shares, about 18% of the institutional tranche. Redwheel, in the circular as RWC Asset Management, takes 490.4 mn, or 11%, through its UK business and a US affiliate, having also anchored MNT-Halan this month alongside CIB. Waha is in for 395 mn, or 9%.
Helikon’s USD 100 mn is the biggest ticket and the least certain. The London long-short investor committed a fixed USD amount rather than a share count, and it is bound only “up to a price close to the mid-point” of the range. At EGP 5.06 that is roughly 1.06 bn shares, about a quarter of the institutional tranche. Price above that and Helikon can walk, leaving committed anchor money at USD 166 mn from the other three, or 38% of the institutional tranche at the top of the range, the circular says.
ADVISORS- CI Capital is lead global coordinator and joint bookrunner, while EFG Hermes is joint global coordinator and joint bookrunner. Baker McKenzie is advising the BdC and its parent on US and English law, while Helmy, Hamza, & Partners, a Baker McKenzie member firm, is counsel on matters of Egyptian law. Enterprise Advisory is investor relations advisor.
Dubai Investments has set the timetable for the UAE’s first IPO of the year. It will sell 1.74 bn existing shares, 20% of DIP Holding, on the DFM, it said in its intention-to-float notice (pdf). DIP Holding runs Dubai Investments Park, a 23 mn sqm industrial and commercial hub that leases land under long-term agreements. Subscriptions run 27 October to 3 November with trading on or around 11 November, pending approvals. The price range comes on 27 October and the final price is set on 4 November through a bookbuild.
The size: Management previously valued the unit at AED 10.8-11 bn, putting the stake at AED 2.16-2.2 bn (c. USD 590-600 mn), by our math — in line with Dubai Residential REIT’s USD 584 mn float last May and about 1.5x Alec’s USD 381 mn IPO. Dubai Investments keeps the proceeds and cannot sell more shares until May.
The split: Qualified investors take 92% with an AED 1 mn minimum and retail 5% at an AED 5k minimum, with 2% for the parent’s individual shareholders and 1% for employees. DIP Holding expects semi-annual dividends totalling AED 700 mn for 2026, AED 725 mn for 2027, and AED 750 mn for 2028 — a 6.4% yield at the midpoint of that valuation, by our math.
The float has been on the table since Dubai Investments said in January 2025 it was looking totake four subsidiaries public, slipping to February and then to the fall after the war triggered a regional sell-off. Executives are meeting investors until next Monday, 26 October, Bloomberg reported.
Asyad Group is selling up to 6.25% ofAsyad Shippingin a follow-on offering. The secondary sale splits into a 5% institutional tranche and up to 1.25% for retail, with Oman Investment Bank and Sohar International as joint global coordinators and issue managers, according to a disclosure (pdf). Pricing is set when the institutional book closes tomorrow and announced with allocations next Monday, 26 October. Retail buys at that price on a date still to be fixed.
The sweetener is a fixed dividend. Asyad Shipping expects to declare USD 150 mn (c. OMR 58 mn) for FY 2026, split evenly between September 2026 and March 2027. Guaranteed dividends are how the Oman Investment Authority has drummed up demand for its portfolio companies’ listings over the past two years, as we previously reported.
IN CONTEXT- The sale takes Asyad’s freefloat past the MSX’s 25% minimum, a step due within two years of the 20% float that raised USD 332.8 mn in March 2025. It lands a day after Asyad Shipping posted a 107% y-o-y jump in 9M net income to OMR 67.7 mn on surging crude and liner rates.
Adia and QIA took 4.81% of the anchor book in Jio Platforms’ USD 3.2 bn IPO, worth INR 3.9 bn (c. USD 41 mn), according to Jio’s allotment filing (pdf). Adia, which bid for more of the company, got INR 2.4 bn (c. USD 25 mn) through two vehicles, and QIA INR 1.5 bn (c. USD 16 mn) through its wholly owned INQ Holding.
Demand ran close to 30x. Jio allotted 72.5 mn shares to 212 anchors at INR 1.12k, the top of its band, raising INR 81.1 bn (USD 854 mn) against nearly USD 25 bn of bids, Reuters reports. Indian institutions took almost half the book, and public subscription runs today to Friday.
The big Gulf cheques were written in 2020. Adia’s anchor ticket is about 4% of the INR 56.8 bn it paid for 1.16% of Jio six years ago. PIF, which took 2.32%, and Mubadala, which took 1.85% the same year, are not in the anchor book and are not selling, since the IPO is entirely a fresh issue. Those deals valued Jio at c. USD 65 bn against up to USD 108 bn now, about 1.7x in USD terms.
Mubadala is in an investor group bidding for Canaccord Genuity’s UK wealth arm. The Abu Dhabi fund is part of a consortium led by Centerbridge Partners negotiating for Canaccord Wealth in a deal that would value the unit at roughly GBP 1 bn (c. USD 1.3 bn), Bloomberg reports, in copy also carried by TradingView and Newsquawk. Earlier exclusive talks with Warburg Pincus and with Clayton Dubilier & Rice have lapsed, and an agreement could land within weeks. Canaccord shares rose 2.7% in Toronto.
Kuwait raised USD 3.25 bn from a dual-tranche USD bond on Monday, its third public international sale in just over a year. It sold USD 2.25 bn of three-year notes at 75 bps over US Treasuries, 30 bps inside guidance, for a 5.619% yield, and USD 1 bn of 10-year notes at 105 bps, in from guidance of 130 bps, for 6.198%, Al Jarida reports, citing IFR. Peak orders topped USD 9.1 bn, about 2.8x the issuance, the Finance Ministry said, with final orders excluding lead managers above USD 7.8 bn.
Most of the extra cost is the Treasury curve, not Kuwait. The three-year yield has gone from 4.016% in its October 2025 sale to 5.039% in July 2026 and 5.619% now, a 160 bps climb, while its spread over Treasuries widened 35 bps across the same three deals.
The three sales take Kuwait’s USD bond borrowing to about USD 20.75 bn since September 2025, past the top of the USD 10-20 bn rangeofficials flagged for 2025-26. The 2025 debt law caps public debt at KWD 30 bn (USD 97.4 bn), and last month the government lifted a decades-old ban on borrowing from its sovereign wealth fund.
Oman is selling up to OMR 150 mn (c. USD 390 mn) of seven-year local sovereign sukuk at a 4.85% yield. The 12th issuance of the local program and the second of 2026 is sized at OMR 100 mn with an option to add OMR 50 mn, and subscriptions close on 25 October, Oman News Agency reports. That is 70 bps above the 4.15% on its last seven-year sukuk in December 2025.
Refinancing is driving the borrowing, not the deficit. More than three-quarters of Oman’s OMR 2.3 bn financing need for 2026 is OMR 1.76 bn of maturing debt, with the OMR 530 mn deficit making up the rest, according to Finance Ministry figures. The 2026 borrowing plan pencils in two local sukuk of OMR 125 mn each. After OMR 120 mn in June, a fully upsized issue would take 2026 sukuk sales to OMR 270 mn, above the OMR 250 mn budgeted.
Taqa is marketing a two-part USD bond, its first since going private. Abu Dhabi National Energy Company is out with a long five-year green tranche at initial thoughts of around 130 bps over US Treasuries and a 10-year at around 140 bps, Zawya reports. Moody’s is expected to rate the notes Aa3 and Fitch AA-, both in line with Taqa’s own ratings. The bonds settle on 26 October and mature in April 2032 and October 2036. Green proceeds fund or refinance projects qualifying under Taqa’s green and blue finance framework, with the 10-year going to general corporate purposes.
It joins a run of regional issuers back in the market in recent weeks, mostly banks — Emirates Islamic, FAB, and Mashreq among them.
Gulf Keystone and ShaMaran Petroleum have agreed to an all-share merger, creating what they call one of Iraq’s largest independent oil producers, the two said yesterday. The combined company would hold four adjacent fields in the Kurdish region with 53k bbl / d of production capacity and 323 mn barrels of reserves, plus a 25% stake in the Hamrin field in Federal Iraq.
Others are hedging out of Kurdistan. Foreign producers there are weighing acquisitions in other markets to guard against disruption from the recurring payment disputes between Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government. London-listed Genel Energy is in a competing bid with Norway’s DNO for Egypt-focused Capricorn Energy, Asharq Al Awsat reports.
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UAE packaging manufacturer Hotpack has bought a stake in Oman’s Pride Packaging, with plans for an integrated packaging complex in Barka, according to a company statement. Pride, a subsidiary of Omani fisheries group Sea Pride, makes corrugated cartons, and the planned complex would bring several packaging lines under one roof. The stake size, transaction value, and construction timeline were not disclosed.
Vrtx raised USD 3.6 mn in pre-seed funding to build embedded-finance infrastructure in the Kingdom, backed by SC Ventures, Sadu Capital, BYLD, Suhail Ventures, F6 Ventures, TAZ Investment, and Palm Ventures, according to a statement. The fintech also has in-principle approval from the Saudi Central Bank for an Electronic Money Institution license.
Nabta has reached the second close of its USD 3 mn pre-Series A. The UAE-based preventive healthcare platform for women will use the money to commercialize and scale as it moves out of R&D, it said in a press release. ADGM-based Phoenix Venture Partners led, joined by other VCs, family offices, high-net-worth individuals, and institutional investors.
Dubai-based Popcorn AI Studio raised USD 1 mn in pre-seed funding led by Emirati tech entrepreneur Mohammed Bin Bouta Alharsousi (LinkedIn), according to a press release. It will develop its platform and grow its user base in the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
Emirati state defense firm Edge backed Israel-based autonomous aviation software firm High Lander’s USD 16 mn raise, according to a press release. Edge’s own contribution was not disclosed.
Qatar is offering to rebuild Lebanon’s crumbling electricity supply system over three years, pitching a buildout led by two combined-cycle generation plants with 825 MW capacity each in Deir Ammar in the north and at Zahrani in the south, according to a draft plan seen by Reuters and prepared with input from both governments. Under the plan, Qatar will also provide LNG to Lebanon for the next two decades, build renewables projects backed by battery storage with a combined capacity of 1.2 GW, and supply 400 MW of electricity via Syria — bringing the plan’s combined generation capacity to over 3.2 GW. The catch is that Lebanon is still working on the infrastructure that could enable LNG-powered electricity generation at that scale. The plan would require Lebanon to charter a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to handle about 3.5 mn cbm per day — and the government recently approved a PPP plan for an FSRU project near Deir Ammar. Ramping up the ongoing rehabilitation of the Arab Gas Pipeline, which passes through Syria and Jordan, will also be needed to allow imports of up to 4.5 mn cbm per day. REMEMBER- Lebanon was supposed to build these two combined-cycle plants almost a decade ago — and the delay recently prompted a corruption probe after rented Turkish floating electricity generation units continued to rack up expensive fees, we reported in the summer.
Plugging in Cyprus
Eni and TotalEnergies are budgeting USD 100-120 mn to link Cypriot gas to Egypt’s Damietta LNG plant. The roughly 40 km onshore pipeline will run from the Zohr gas processing facilities in Port Said to Damietta, completing the Egyptian leg of the export route for Cyprus’ offshore Cronos field, Asharq Business reports, citing an unnamed government official. Construction is set to start in early 2027 and is expected to take about 12 months from the signing of execution contracts, which puts the first Cronos gas in Egypt in 1Q 2028, starting at about 500 mmscf / d.
The pipeline puts Egypt’s idle gas capacity to work: Cronos gas will travel by subsea pipeline to Zohr’s existing facilities for processing, then overland to Damietta for liquefaction and re-export to Europe. Egypt has more than 2 bcf / d of spare processing capacity on the Mediterranean coast and 1.9 bcf / d of export capacity at Idku and Damietta, within a network that can carry around 9 bcf / d. Cairo expects about 1.3 bcf / d of Cypriot gas from Cronos and Aphrodite by end-2028, according to the official.
Paid in barrels
China’sAnton Oilfield Serviceshas sold its first cargo of Iraqi crude as part of an arrangement to settle delayed payments with Iraqi state oil company Somo, Reuters reports. The Hong Kong-listed company lifted around 1 mn bbl of Basrah Heavy grade from Majnoon in September and sold the cargo to an unnamed oil trading company. Anton said the proceeds from the sale will be used to settle arrears owed to itself and partners.
The context is a cash crunch at the Basra Oil Company (BOC) that has led to accruing arrears. Iraq has been one of the most impacted oil exporters in the region on Hormuz disruptions, and the country has been using big discounts to incentivize traders to continue buying through the crisis. Somo widened its Basrah Heavy term discount to USD 37 per barrel for October loading, from under USD 30 for August and September, as Hormuz-related freight and ins. costs blew out.
The rebuild fund
Syria and the World Bank Group have agreed to set up a multi-donor trust fund for reconstruction, the Syria Recovery and Reconstruction Trust Fund (START), SANA reports. The fund will channel concessional financing, investment guarantees, technical assistance and capacity building, with the World Bank administering it against priorities Damascus sets, and the IFC working alongside it to draw in private investment.
Partners from the Arab region, the EU, the US and regional and international financial institutions said they are willing to contribute, at a roundtable on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF annual meetings in Bangkok. No target size or individual contributions have been disclosed.
Credit where due
Syria has received its first fuel cargo from Saudi Aramco, paid for with its first letter of credit in 14 years. The tanker Starling began unloading about 63.8k metric tons of diesel at the Baniyas oil terminal on Monday, Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC) head of mooring and berthing Jamil Wahoud told state news agency Sana. The trial shipment is intended to help cover Syria’s domestic fuel needs.
Syria now has a formal banking channel for fuel imports. Syria’s central bank opened the letter of credit earlier this month with an unnamed major US bank, and SPC identified Aramco Trading as the supplier. The arrangement opens the way to wider cooperation, Wahoud said. Sana’s reports don’t give the agreement’s value, total volumes, or delivery schedule.
REMEMBER- Saudi oil has reached Syria before, as aid. Riyadh completed a 1.65 mn-barrel crude oil grant last November, with the final 1 mn barrels delivered to Baniyas aboard the Reliable Warrior.
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