executives Archives

SelectUSA summit lures Gulf business to the Potomac

Gulf trade officials, executives and entrepreneurs have descended on suburban Washington D.C. this week for the SelectUSA Investment Summit, the U.S. government’s annual dog-and-pony show aimed at drumming up business partnerships around the world.

The four-day conference in National Harbor, Maryland, which drew close to 5,000 participants last year, kicked off on Sunday with a smorgasbord of panel discussions that included a “data dive” on foreign direct investment into the U.S. from the Middle East and Africa.

Representing the UAE at the U.S. Commerce Department-sponsored confab, is Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, and executives from some 35 Emirati companies. “With over $1 trillion invested across America, the UAE has already ‘Selected the USA,’ and we look forward to deepening this important trade and economic relationship,” Al Zeyoudi said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia, which generated $34 billion in bilateral trade with the U.S. last year, is active both on the summit floor and the sidelines, where officials from Riyadh attended meetings on Sunday held by the Saudi-U.S. Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council.

Among other events surrounding SelectUSA are a session titled “Trade Opportunities between the Middle East and the United States,” which features participation from U.S. ambassadors stationed in Gulf countries, and the fifth GCC-U.S. Trade and Investment Dialogue Forum.

Saudi Aramco execs go on the road to promote share sale

Saudi Aramco executives are traveling this week to recruit international investors for the oil company’s $12 billion secondary offering, a departure from its IPO held five years ago that was marketed primarily to the home crowd.

Aramco CEO Amin Nasser and CFO Ziad Al Murshed will be attending roadshow events in London while others are planning to join presentations in New York, Bloomberg reports.

Institutional investors can submit orders until June 6 for the $1.8 trillion company’s share sale that began the booking process on Sunday and was oversubscribed within hours.

Before Aramco’s $29.4 billion IPO in 2019, overseas investors showed limited interest, leaving the government reliant on local buyers.

The kingdom scrapped a roadshow event in London and decided against presentations in the U.S. and Japan, choosing instead to focus on its enthusiastic domestic audience, who made the IPO the largest in history.