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Semafor Gulf
🟡 Semafor Gulf: Five months
In today’s edition: Fresh attacks on Saudi Arabia, novel drugs in Abu Dhabi, and a borrowing spree across the Gulf.
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Iran war pushes borrowing in the Gulf to record highs
The Iran war is spurring record borrowing by Gulf states looking to harden their infrastructure and build trade routes that do not rely on the Strait of Hormuz.
Stringer/Reuters
Dubai business hub tops 10,000 companies
The number of active businesses at the Dubai International Financial Centre has increased 30% over the past year to 10,018.
Courtesy of DIFC
Saudi lobbying to host the G20 summit in 2030
The kingdom wants to expand its role on the world stage with an event coinciding with the culmination of its Vision 2030 diversification drive.
Saudi Press Agency/Handout via Reuters
PIF-backed $2B Gulf fund set to be one of the region’s largest
Brookfield raised $2 billion for a Middle East-focused private equity vehicle backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Courtesy of PIF
The Suez Canal is Saudi crude’s costlier alternative route to Asia
The longer route adds about $2.5 million in shipping costs per journey to Asia, stretching a typical voyage to Taiwan from 19 to 48 days, Reuters estimated.
Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters
Abandoned Russian shadow-fleet tanker leaks oil off Oman
Satellite images suggest the Caroline Bezengi is partially submerged beside a protected marine reserve.
SynMax Theia via Satellogic
Abu Dhabi lab advances AI search for non-opioid painkillers
Insilico Medicine has found success in Abu Dhabi thanks to available talent and cheap computing power in the UAE capital.
Saudi AI champion HUMAIN sponsors Ronaldo’s Al Nassr
HUMAIN aims to bring AI for sports management and marketing to Saudi Arabia’s most famous soccer club.
Abu Dhabi developer Aldar starts $27B expansion project
Abu Dhabi is one of the few Gulf property markets that has not cooled during the war.
Saudi airlines are the Gulf’s big Farnborough spenders
Saudi airlines were the only Gulf carriers with a big shopping list this year at one of the industry’s biggest airshows.
Blackstone, KKR invest in Kuwait pipelines
Kuwait, which raised a $6 billion bond recently, is trying to attract more Wall Street firms and foreign investors as it works to develop its domestic economy.
Lull in Iran conflict tests Trump
A second straight day without US-Iran strikes shifted attention from the battlefield to the White House, where President Donald Trump faces an increasingly narrow set of options.
Iran war costs squeeze Gulf’s protein boom
Gulf consumers have long embraced the global protein craze, but the conflict is squeezing the margins of food companies seeking to profit from the trend.
Investors pick their Gulf bank winners
Emirates NBD and First Abu Dhabi Bank are both since January, outpacing every major index in the Gulf, while Qatar National Bank is down more than 10%.
Trump pegs Saudi nuclear deal to Israel talks
The US president’s stipulation threatens to stymie the newly signed agreement, which allows Saudi Arabia to build nuclear power plants with US technology.
DP World plans two ports in booming Fujairah
Fujairah, which sits to the east of the Strait of Hormuz, has become an increasingly critical bypass route as ships look for ways to skirt the waterway.
Saudi strengthens sports operations as it gears up for 2034 World Cup
The kingdom unveiled a new company that it says will manage the operations of the burgeoning network of arenas it’s building.
Gulf hotels extend wartime deals
Hotels in Dubai and other cities are slashing prices and offering perks as the Iran war has caused occupancy to sink.