Gulf

1. Wave of Gulf share sales
2. Russia’s economic diplomacy
3. UAE’s small business loans
4. Private credit market grows
5. A rare glimpse into NEOM

Saudi joins a rarefied league of nations with a currency symbol.

IPOs, share deals gather steam

Share sales worth more than $3 billion are being lined up in the Gulf, in a sign of continued investor demand after a strong performance last year. The listings cut across sectors. Oman’s Asyad Shipping aims to raise $332 million in a listing on the Muscat bourse, with Qatari and Omani state funds as the likely buyers. In the UAE, technology firm Alpha Data is raising up to $163 million on the Abu Dhabi exchange. Both will be overshadowed by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s sale of $2.8 billion of shares in its already listed ADNOC Gas subsidiary.

Saudi Arabia is expected to be the most active this year. SMC Hospitals has hired banks for a potential listing on the local Tadawul bourse before the summer, and two car rental companies in the kingdom are also considering IPOs, Bloomberg reported.

Analysis: Russia leans on Gulf playbook

Kirill Dmitriev — the longtime CEO of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund who has earned the trust of Gulf royals and US President Donald Trump’s inner circle — is leading Russia’s drive to return to the global economy, Al Arabiya’s Chief International Anchor Hadley Gamble writes in a Semafor column.

“The Kremlin is laying the groundwork for a global reintegration strategy modeled on its Gulf playbook — one that ties economic incentives to geopolitical leverage,” Gamble wrote. Dmitriev, a Stanford and Harvard graduate who began his career with stints at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey, “is perhaps uniquely positioned to execute Russia’s plan.”

Empathy investing gets a $1B boost

The amount that 2PointZero, part of Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company conglomerate, plans to pump into financial services for low- and middle-income individuals and small businesses. The investment will be channelled through Cairo-based Maseera Holding, which 2PointZero has just acquired, with an initial focus on markets in Asia and Africa. The two companies share a vision: 2PointZero wants to create “a more sustainable and inclusive society” and Maseera’s founder has said “empathy is key to innovation.” The strategy aligns with a trend among Gulf investors to target lower-income consumers — Qatar recently made big bets on affordable housing in India and Indonesia.

Private credit flows to big companies

More Gulf companies are using private financing as an alternative to bank lending, share sales, and bond markets, according to S&P Global Ratings. The agency said private financiers had moved beyond early-stage companies and were a growing funding source for more mature businesses. Overall, there were $54.8 billion worth of private capital financing deals from 2020-24, up from $10.4 billion in the preceding five years. The largest companies are receiving the bulk of the funds. In the past decade, the 10 biggest deals accounted for about 80% of the total annual volume of private capital financings, the ratings agency said.

NEOM’s linear city slowly takes shape

NEOM has given rare media access to Al Arabiya to show off progress at The Line, its wildly ambitious 170-kilometer linear city project. The Saudi broadcaster’s report was strong on glossy renderings of what the city might eventually look like, but the current reality is more prosaic, with foundations being laid and vertical construction still months away. The publicity push follows reports that the project was being downsized and delayed — officials told Al Arabiya: “The Line has never been scaled back.” The first phase, due to be completed by 2034, will be 2.4 kilometers long and 500 metres high with 80,000 homes, 9,000 hotel rooms, and a stadium for the 2034 men’s soccer World Cup.

Energy

• Saudi Aramco is buying a 25% stake in Unioil Petroleum Philippines for an undisclosed sum, giving it access to a network of 165 petrol stations and four storage terminals across the Asian archipelago. The Saudi oil giant has previously struck similar deals in Chile and Pakistan.

Commodities

• The global sugar glut is squeezing profit margins at refineries in the Middle East as production of refined sugar surges in Thailand, India, and Europe. Dubai’s Al Khaleej Sugar Company was running at just 70% capacity last year. — Bloomberg

Sovereign wealth

• InvestSaudi, the kingdom’s investment promotion authority, will open its second US office in Miami. The move, announced during the latest edition of FII Miami, aims to boost inbound investments and provide a base for Saudi investors to pursue opportunities in the US and Latin America. — AGBI

Saudi Arabia has joined the short list of countries with a dedicated symbol for their currencies, and possibly the first that launched with a glitzy video. The new design, a stylised version of the Arabic letters in “riyal,” will take its place alongside the $ and £, and less well-known ones like ₺ (the Turkish lira symbol, introduced in 2012) and ₾ (the Georgian lari, since 2014). Officials say the symbol will reinforce Saudi financial and national identity. For most, it will only really have arrived when it starts to show up on price tags, banknotes, and keyboards. It remains to be seen if other countries using riyals try to adopt it too, just as the $ is used for non-US dollars.

The FTC’s reaffirmation of Biden-era merger rules should dispel Wall Street’s hopes Trump would usher in a dealmaking boom, Semafor’s Liz Hoffman and Rohan Goswami write.

“Rewriting guidelines after every election would be destabilizing,” FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson said. “Enforcement agencies should avoid a wholesale change in guidelines with every new administration… Firms must be able to make plans without worrying that guidelines are tossed away every four years.”

Trump’s merger cops holding to Biden’s agenda shows that even Big Tech’s cozying up to the administration may not have changed their mind toward corporate power, Liz and Rohan note.