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Markets news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

A worker at a natural gas control centre in Turkey. Epias trades wholesale natural gas and electricity markets

Turkey’s energy bourse Epias to expand and may consider IPO

Turkish energy bourse Enerji Piyasalari Isletme AS (Epias) will expand its operations over the next few years and an initial public offering may be considered after the expansion, Turkish energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Wednesday. Speaking at an Atlantic Council conference in Istanbul on Wednesday, Bayraktar said Epias, which currently operates wholesale electricity and […]

National oil companies in the Middle East are developing their trading businesses in pursuit of new sources of income

National oil companies venture into trading business

Traditionally conservative national oil companies (NOCs) in the Middle East are developing their trading businesses in pursuit of new sources of income and to eat into the bumper profits of commodities houses. OQ of Oman, Saudi Aramco, UAE’s Adnoc and QatarEnergies have successfully developed their refined products and trading over the last decade to catch […]

PIF Amazon

Saudi Arabia’s PIF slashes stake in Amazon

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has sharply reduced its holdings in Amazon, cutting its stake by nearly 80 percent in the latest quarter. The sovereign wealth fund, which manages more than $700 billion in assets, revealed in its latest Securities and Exchange Commission filing this week that it now holds less than 350,000 shares, […]

Aramco says the sukuk will diversify and broaden its investor base

Aramco’s $3bn sukuk oversubscribed six times

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, said its $3 billion sukuk was oversubscribed by six times. The sukuk was issued in two US dollar-denominated tranches, each valued at $1.5 billion. The tranches, maturing in 2029 and 2034, carry annual profit rates of 4.25 percent and 4.75 percent, respectively, the company said in a statement. […]

Saudi company Entaj has an annual bird capacity of 185 million following an expansion project completed in the first quarter of 2024

Saudi poultry producer gets nod to sell 30% stake in IPO

Arabian Company for Agricultural and Industrial Investment (Entaj), a Riyadh-based poultry producer, has received the green light from the Saudi market regulator to list shares on the main market (Tasi). The company will float 9 million shares through an initial public offering (IPO), representing 30 percent of the total issued share capital. The prospectus detailing […]

ADNH Catering provides food and support services in the UAE and through a joint venture in Saudi Arabia with Compass Group

Abu Dhabi National Hotels launches IPO of catering unit

Abu Dhabi National Hotels (ADNH) said it will float a 40 percent stake in its catering unit, or 900 million shares, on the local stock exchange.   The final offer price, determined through a book-building process, will be announced on October 16. The sharia-compliant ADNH Catering shares sold are owned by ADNH, which trades on […]

A perfume shop in Sabya, Saudi Arabia. The country's fragrance sector is worth $2.3bn

Investors scent riches in Middle East perfume

The retail offering of Al Majed for Oud Company was more than nine times oversubscribed this week, as investors rushed to buy up the first tranche of 1.5 million shares in the Riyadh-based perfume and oud products manufacturer. The full listing of 7.5 million shares, or a 30 percent stake in the company, will raise […]

Saudi stock lending. Short selling relies on stock prices falling for the seller to make a profit, but the lender makes money from fees regardless

Saudi Arabia leads in stock lending as short selling grows

Saudi Arabia is the Middle East’s most active market for stock lending – an important part of the process of short selling – and demand from borrowers is likely to increase as more sophisticated investors start trading, new research suggests. In stock lending, an entity – usually a broker or financial institution – pays a […]

United Bank’s total assets increased to EGP106 billion ($2.2 billion) in June 2024 from EGP72 billion in 2021

Egypt to sell United Bank stake next year

Egypt’s central bank intends to list the state-run United Bank on the local stock exchange in the first quarter of 2025. The central bank is working to secure approvals from the Financial Regulatory Authority and the Egyptian stock exchange to launch the initial public offering (IPO), the UAE state-run Wam news agency reported. Details of […]

Oman needs three listed companies with market caps above $2.19bn to get on MSCI’s Emerging Markets index. OQEP could be one

Oil IPO is latest step towards Oman’s emerging market status

An Omani state oil company’s $2 billion initial public offering will boost the sultanate’s chances of eventually being reclassified as an emerging market by the world’s leading stock index providers. If achieved, Oman’s blue-chips will receive sizeable inflows from passive funds that track the MSCI and FTSE emerging market benchmarks, increasing bourse turnover and likely […]

Quantitative speculators can anticipate and 'accelerate price changes initiated by fundamentals'

‘Bot traders’ defy Opec and determine the price of oil

Oil has been trading at its lowest levels in a year, posing a severe challenge to Opec in its efforts to impose a floor on prices. But analysts say that speculative financial players are also driving price determination, alongside traders who study the fundamentals of supply and demand. Opec has voiced frustration at what it […]

US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell. The yield on 10-year treasuries hit a 17-year high of nearly 5 percent in October 2023

US rate cuts will help Gulf bonds but oil worries persist

Imminent US interest rate cuts bode well for Gulf bonds and sukuk, although declining oil prices could lead to higher spreads on regional debt. Bonds are typically priced against 10-year US government treasuries and the difference between their yields is known as the spread. The yield on 10-year treasuries hit a 17-year high of nearly […]

Fourth Milling will sell 162 million shares, or 30 percent of its share capital, on the Saudi stock exchange

Fourth Milling to raise up to $229m from Saudi listing

Fourth Milling Company (MC4) has set the price range for its initial public offering (IPO) between SAR5 and SAR5.30 ($1.33-$1.41) per share. The total offering size is expected to be between SAR810 million and SAR858.6 million, indicating a market capitalisation at listing of between SAR2.7 billion and SAR2.8 billion. The company will sell 162 million […]

The subscription period for the retail tranche of Arabian Mills' IPO will start on September 18 and end on September 19

Arabian Mills’ investor IPO tranche attracts $36bn

The institutional book-building process for the initial public offering (IPO) of Arabian Mills for Food Products Company (Arabian Mills) has attracted total orders of SAR134 billion ($35.7 billion). The offering was oversubscribed 132 times by local and global investors. The company set the final offer price at SAR66 per share, the top end of the […]

Oman wealth fund to launch IPOs in divestment push

The Oman Investment Authority (OIA) has framed a new five-year divestment plan, which includes initial public offerings (IPOs) in key sectors. The 2024-2028 plan will float companies in the energy, services and logistics sectors, the fund said in a post on social messaging platform X. In addition to the IPOs, the sovereign wealth fund will […]

Investors confer at Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The market's all-time high came in November 2022

Outlook for Gulf bourses is upbeat despite oil price jitters

The Gulf’s stuttering stock markets are probably not indicating the start of a downturn, analysts have told AGBI, but are a good opportunity for investors to snap up cheaper shares. Dubai aside, the region’s bourses have been broadly lacklustre this year although heavyweight sectors such as banking and petrochemicals have reported a marked increase in […]

A view of King Abdullah Economic City. Developer Emaar EC says it "stands at a vital inflection point"

Emaar EC’s new strategy to steer financial recovery

Emaar the Economic City (Emaar EC), the master developer of King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Saudi Arabia, has initiated a SAR8.7 billion ($2.3 billion) turnaround plan a month after its first-half 2024 losses showed an almost five-fold increase from 2023. A capital optimisation plan will allow the Saudi-listed company to restructure its SAR3.8 billion in bank facilities. […]

Traders at the Saudi stock exchange. Fourth Milling will not receive any proceeds from the IPO, which will be distributed to the selling shareholders

Fourth Milling to launch retail IPO next month

The two-day retail tranche of the Fourth Milling Company’s (MC4) initial public offering (IPO) will begin on October 2. The company will sell 162 million shares, or 30 percent of its share capital, on the Saudi stock exchange, it said in its prospectus. The price range announcement and institutional book building will commence on September […]