EXCLUSIVE Giga-projects PIF spending cuts slow giga-projects and trigger layoffs Saudi Arabia’s $925 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF) has ordered deep spending cuts across more than 100 of its companies, slowing projects and triggering layoffs, people familiar with the matter have told AGBI. The sovereign wealth fund at the heart of the government’s economic transformation strategy is mandating a minimum 20 percent reduction in 2025 […] March 24, 2025
Energy Orascom wins $2.6bn contract for Saudi power plant A consortium comprising Egypt-listed Orascom Construction and Spain’s Técnicas Reunidas has signed a contract to build a 3 gigawatt gas-fired power plant in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. The consortium signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract worth around $2.6 billion for expanding the Qurayyah independent power project, Orascom said in a statement on Monday. In […] March 24, 2025
Oil & Gas Saudi Aramco buys Peruvian fuel distributor Saudi Aramco has agreed to buy fuel distributor Primax, which has operations in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, Peruvian newspaper Gestion reported, citing sources familiar with the deal. Primax, owned by Peruvian conglomerate Grupo Romero, has 2,185 gas stations in the three South American countries. The deal with Aramco included a payment of around $3.5 billion, Gestion […] March 24, 2025
Finance International investors target Saudi IPOs and smaller caps Emerging market investors are increasingly targeting Saudi Arabia’s smaller listed companies and initial public offerings, because of their better stock price performance versus their bigger peers. Since early 2020, foreign investors have been net buyers of almost $34 billion of Saudi Arabian equities, a report by the Dubai-based consultancy Iridium Advisors has revealed. Much of […] March 24, 2025
Construction Mecca property developer shares could jump after IPO Shares in Saudi Arabia’s Umm Al Qura, which will start trading on the main stock exchange on Monday following an initial public offering, should attract “a lot of interest” from investors looking to capitalise on the real estate market in one of Islam’s holiest cities, analysts have said. The company, which is overseeing a mixed-use […] March 23, 2025
Markets Umm Al Qura to list on Saudi bourse next week Shares of Umm Al Qura for Development and Construction (Umm Al Qura), the developer of Masar, a massive mixed-use project in the holy city of Mecca, will start trading on the Saudi stock exchange next week. The stock will be subject to a daily and static price fluctuation limit of plus or minus 30 percent and […] March 23, 2025
Logistics Danish logistics partner rues Neom delays Denmark’s DSV A/S, one of the world’s largest freight and logistics companies, said that expected profit from a $10 billion joint venture with Saudi Arabia’s state-backed Neom will be slower in coming than previously forecast due to delays in the so-called giga-project. Neom is a $500 billion futuristic desert city project on Saudi Arabia’s northern […] March 21, 2025
Markets Five more IPOs approved by Saudi regulator Five more companies have received approval to sell shares in initial public offerings from Saudi Arabia’s Capital Markets Authority regulator. Already this year three Saudi companies, Derayah Financial, Umm Al Qura and Arab Company for Agricultural and Industrial Investment (Entaj), have raised more than $1 billion in IPOs. Shares in both Derayah Financial and Entaj […] March 21, 2025
Energy Aramco launches its first carbon capture facility Saudi Aramco has launched its first facility to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air in a joint venture with Siemens. This is the company’s first direct air capture (DAC) facility as it seeks to curb CO2 emissions. The facility, a pilot project developed with Siemens Energy, is designed to remove 12 tonnes of CO2 […] March 21, 2025
Mining Gulf investors in talks to buy stake in US copper project Middle East investors are in talks with HudBay Minerals to buy a stake of as much as 30 percent in the Canadian company’s US copper project, a news report said. The stake sale in HudBay Mineral’s flagship Copper World project in Arizona has drawn interest from investors in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Japan, Bloomberg […] March 21, 2025
Markets Sport Clubs gets nod to list 30% on Saudi bourse Riyadh-based Sport Clubs Company has received approval to float 30 percent of its share capital on the Saudi stock exchange. The Capital Market Regulator has given its nod to sell 34.3 million shares on the main market. The approval will be valid for six months but is deemed cancelled if the initial public offering (IPO) […] March 21, 2025
Opinion Economy Saudi Arabia’s $1 trillion Trump bet and its possible returns Recognition and security guarantees are among what the kingdom might be expecting March 20, 2025
Analysis Banking & Finance Saudi banks have room to expand lending The loan books of Saudi Arabian banks now exceed their total deposits, which might normally be a warning sign that the sector’s finances are under strain. Yet the Saudi Central Bank (Sama) takes a more nuanced approach to calculating loan-to-deposit ratios, an important metric known in the industry as LDR. Sama’s assessment indicates that lenders […] March 20, 2025
Artificial Intelligence Aramco-backed Cognite taps India in AI growth move Saudi Aramco-backed industrial software company Cognite has opened an AI services centre in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru and said it is exploring potential contracts with top conglomerates in the country. The Norwegian company said it had signed up with a large industrial cement company and a major automotive company but declined to provide […] March 20, 2025
Real Estate Al Akaria explores new launches after four-fold profit rise Saudi Real Estate Company (Al Akaria) said net profit for 2024 nearly quadrupled amid a rise in property sales and rental income. Profit surged to SAR215 million last year from SAR68 million in 2023 due to higher profit share from associates and a drop in zakat expenses. Revenue rose 10 percent year on year to […] March 19, 2025
Mining Saudi Arabia grants licences for first mineral sites Saudi Arabia has awarded the first exploration licences for mineralised belts at Jabal Sayid, northeast of Jeddah, and Al-Hijar in the south of the kingdom. The two sites, covering a total of 4,788 sq km, will speed up the exploration of mineral resources with an estimated worth of SAR9 trillion ($2.4 trillion), the ministry said […] March 19, 2025
Employment Gulf consulting market expected to cross $8bn this year The Gulf consulting sector is expected to outperform the rest of the world in 2025 with growth of 12 percent, twice as fast as the United States. Although the regional market is predicted to be worth more than $8 billion, growth will be at a slightly slower pace. Last year the GCC market grew by […] March 19, 2025
Logistics $1bn investment to advance Saudi Arabia’s logistics ambitions Saudi-listed Sal Logistics Services and master developer Sela have agreed to develop a logistics zone north of Riyadh. SAL Logistics Zone in Falcon City will cover more than 1.5 million square metres and will be developed at a cost of SAR4 billion ($1 billion), the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The logistics […] March 18, 2025
Real Estate Riyadh adds 10 times as much office space as Dubai Riyadh added the most office space of any Middle Eastern city last year, nearly 10 times as much as its regional rival Dubai. However, the additional supply is unlikely to ease a chronic shortage of prime commercial property in the Saudi capital in the short term. Riyadh, which has a population of seven million, added […] March 18, 2025
Opinion Energy The Gulf’s energy transition aims to add, not subtract The region is pragmatically integrating renewables while maintaining oil dominance for a secure future March 18, 2025
