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

Mubadala has a 73 percent stake in the planned bourse, to be called the Base Exchange

Mubadala seeks liquidity partners for new Brazil bourse

Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, is in talks to form a consortium with up to 10 partners providing liquidity for a new stock exchange in Rio de Janeiro, two people familiar with the matter said. In return, those partners would receive equity that would modestly dilute Mubadala’s current 73 percent stake in […]

An egg farm in Brazil. Saudi Arabia wants to reduce its reliance on imported foods

Entaj share price rises 30% in first day on Tadawul

The share price of poultry producer Entaj has risen by 30 percent on its first day of trading, the maximum daily increase allowed on the Saudi stock exchange. Entaj – formally known as the Arabian Company for Agricultural and Industrial Investment – is the fourth company to list on Saudi Arabia’s main market this year. […]

Jazeera Airways CEO Barathan Pasupathi bought roughly $250,000 worth of shares in the airline

Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways CEO buys shares in his own airline

The CEO of Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways has bought 80,000 shares in his own company as the airline embarks on a five-year plan to boost performance. Barathan Pasupathi purchased the shares between March 9 and 13, according to company disclosures on the Kuwaiti Bourse, buying shares worth $250,000 in a series of transactions last week. Shares […]

Saudi people in the bird and poultry market, Najran Province, Najran, Saudi Arabia

Poultry producer Entaj to list on the Saudi Stock Market

The Arabian Company for Agricultural and Industrial Investment (Entaj) will list on the main market of the Saudi Tadawul on Monday with a share price of SAR50 ($13.30). It will be the fourth company to list on the main Saudi market in 2025 after the beauty ecommerce company Nice One and health care group Almoosa […]

Alpha Data was Abu Dhabi's second-most traded stock as 75 million shares changed hands

Alpha Data listing brightens up gloomy ADX

Shares in Abu Dhabi’s Alpha Data surged on the company’s bourse debut, outperforming a subdued main market index. The first-day performance of the IT services provider contrasts with the struggles of several companies to list on UAE stock exchanges following initial public offerings in the past 12 months. Alpha Data ended 7 percent higher at […]

Two men working in finance at computers displaying charts. Derayah Financial CEO Mohammed AlShammas believes its listing will encourage other local and regional players to do the same

Derayah share price soars on first day of trading

Shares in the online brokerage Derayah Financial rose by 30 percent on their first day of trading, the maximum allowed for newly listed companies, the Saudi stock exchange said. Derayah, the third-largest broker in Saudi Arabia, floated 20 percent of its shares on the Tadawul, the main market of the Saudi Stock Exchange, in a […]

Workers carry fertiliser bags to be mixed with water at a farm in Sharjah: the World Bank’s fertiliser price index has rebounded to 124 from a three-year low last May of 108

Gulf investors urged to switch from petrochems to fertiliser

Gulf fertiliser companies are trading below their fair value, with investors not seeming to price in a rebound in product prices that analysts say is more than just a seasonal upswing. In the Gulf, fertilisers and petrochemicals are considered adjacent industries, since both rely on natural gas as a feedstock. While petrochemical companies’ earnings have […]

Operating revenue at Saudi Tadawul Group rose 35% year on year to SAR1.5 billion in 2024

Saudi Tadawul profit surges 60% on higher trading value

Saudi Tadawul Group, the owner and operator of the kingdom’s stock exchange, reported a 59 percent jump in 2024 profit, as annual trading value and listing services revenues rose by 38 percent and 27 percent, respectively. Net profit was SAR622 million ($166 million) compared to SAR390 million in 2023, the company said in a bourse […]

The Hisma Desert, part of the Neom Nature Reserve, one of the Saudi giga-projects – state spending makes use of the Aramco dividends

Aramco dividend vital to big-spending Saudi Arabia

Saudi Aramco’s 2024 full-year results due this week are likely to again underline the importance of the world’s largest listed oil company to big-spending Saudi Arabia’s economic development plans. Aramco has said it expects to announce fourth-quarter dividends – payouts to the Saudi government are a core source of state revenue – of SAR116.5 billion […]

Parkin is currently in advanced discussions with the Road and Transport Authority to finalise the variable pricing tariff

Parkin proposes $77m dividend for second half 2024

Parkin, the Dubai government’s parking management company, plans to pay a final dividend of AED281 million ($77 million) for the second half of 2024, the company said in a statement. The dividend payout is subject to shareholders’ approval at the annual general meeting planned by March-end. An interim dividend of AED199 million was paid by […]

A Saudi man walks at the Tadawul Saudi Stock Exchange, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday

Umm Al Qura IPO order book hits $126bn

The institutional offering of Umm Al Qura for Development and Construction (Umm Al Qura), the developer of SAR100 billion ($26.7 billion) Masar, a mixed-use project in Mecca, was oversubscribed 241 times, according to a statement. The company, which is backed by the state-run General Organization for Social Insurance (Gosi) and Public Investment Fund (PIF), will raise […]

UAE dividends: As well as looking for high yields, investors prioritising dividends should target companies with explicit dividend policies, experts say

Blue chip dividend yields in UAE beat US and Europe

Most UAE blue chip stocks provide much higher dividend yields than their counterparts in Europe and the United States, an AGBI analysis shows. The top 20 largest listed UAE businesses, excluding two non-dividend paying companies, offer an average dividend yield of 4.7 percent.  This is almost 60 percent better than the average yield of 1.9 […]

A construction site for a solar thermal power plant. Saudi’s sovereign green bonds will be used to finance energy transition or green projects

Saudi’s first sovereign green bond oversubscribed six times

Saudi Arabia’s sale of its first sovereign “green” bonds – together with more conventional fixed-income bonds – was oversubscribed six times, according to the Saudi National Debt Management Centre. The sale consisted of €1.5 billion ($1.58 billion) of seven-year, euro-denominated green bonds and €750 million 12-year conventional debt. A green bond is where the seller […]

The absence of earnings calls 'may discourage investors from buying' a Gulf stock, says one analyst

Gulf CEOs urged to conquer fear of earnings call

Earnings calls for analysts, reporters or investors are a staple for listed companies in Western markets. The same is not true in the Gulf, however, and experts say that can make it harder to assess a company’s performance and justify its stock valuation. It can also deter institutional investors, limit liquidity and slow market growth. […]

Arab Graphic Designer Working on Computer, Discussing Project with Team Leader. Middle Eastern Colleagues Working in Modern Office, Wearing Traditional White Thobes and Kaffiyeh

Saudi firms look to improve ESG to attract investment

Improvements in Saudi Arabian companies’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance are likely to attract more investment to the kingdom from international institutional investors, experts say, as new financial products with a focus on sustainability come to market. This week the kingdom’s first ESG exchange-traded fund (ETF) listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) by […]

The entrance of Boursa Kuwait. The US investment bank said it will remove Qatar and Kuwait bonds over a six-month period starting March 31, 2025

JPMorgan to remove Qatar and Kuwait from EM bond index

JPMorgan will remove Qatar and Kuwait’s government bonds from its influential Emerging Market bond index, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is on course to follow next year, due to rising income levels in the Middle East. The US investment bank, whose EMBI indexes are the main global benchmark of EM debt, said it will […]

Analysts hope to see more companies listing in both Dubai and Saudi Arabia in the future

More dual listings expected as IPO trend continues

Last year, eight companies launched initial public offerings (IPO) on the two main stock exchanges in the UAE, attracting more than $7 billion in investment. The same number could float this year and list in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, analysts say. UAE-based technology company Alpha Data has already announced plans to list 40 percent of its […]

Technology services company Alpha Data is listing Abu Dhabi's first IPO of 2025

Alpha Data aims to raise $163m in Abu Dhabi’s first IPO of 2025

UAE technology services company Alpha Data plans to raise up to $163.2 million, the company said on Thursday, in Abu Dhabi’s first initial public offering this year. Alpha Data plans to list 400 million shares in a price range of 1.45 dirhams to 1.50 dirhams, which implies a market value of up to $408 million. The […]

A DoorDash rider in Chelsea, New York City. PIF has bought nearly 490,000 shares in the delivery company

PIF invests in delivery app DoorDash and drops Walmart

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has sold its stake in US retailer Walmart and more than doubled its holdings in ecommerce giant Amazon, it has announced. PIF also invested in food delivery business DoorDash in the three months to December 31, according to the sovereign wealth fund‘s latest filing to the US Securities and Exchange […]

The  SAR100 billion ($26.7 billion) Masar project in Mecca is one of the largest redevelopment projects in the region

Mecca project developer targets $533m from Saudi listing

Umm Al Qura for Development and Construction (Umm Al Qura), the developer of Masar, a mixed-use project in Mecca, expects to raise between SAR1.8 and SAR2 billion ($480-$533 million) through an initial public offering (IPO) on the Saudi stock exchange. The company has set the IPO price range between SAR14 and SAR15 per share. This month […]

The Berlin-based food delivery company, which bought Talabat in 2015, said it will pay off its convertible bonds Delivery Hero

Delivery Hero to use Talabat IPO earnings to clear bonds

Delivery Hero is to buy back about €1 billion ($1 billion) in bonds using proceeds from last year’s Talabat IPO on the Dubai Financial Market. The Berlin-based food delivery company, which bought Talabat in 2015, said it will pay off its convertible bonds due in 2025 and 2026 and up to €350 million for 2027 […]

Alpha Data IPO

Alpha Data to sell 40% stake in IPO on Abu Dhabi bourse

A 44-year-old UAE-based technology company, Alpha Data, is to list 40 percent of its capital, or 400 million shares, on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), the company has said. Alpha Data’s initial public offering (IPO) subscription will run from February 20 to 25 for UAE retail and professional investors. The offer price will be […]