Flynas IPO oversubscribed by nearly 100 times before trading

The $1.1 billion IPO for Saudi Arabia’s Flynas low-cost airline has reached the runway and is ready for take-off after the offering to institutional investors was nearly 100 times oversubscribed.

The carrier, whose largest shareholders are Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holdings and the government’s Public Investment Fund, is the latest in a slew of IPOs for Saudi companies that have also encountered high demand, including Umm Al-Qura construction, which raised more than $500 million in March.

Flynas shares, which will start trading on Riyadh’s Tadawul Stock Exchange May 28, were set on Wednesday at 80 riyals apiece, the top of the range given by the IPO’s investment bankers.

Proceeds from the offering are slated for expanding Flynas’ fleet by 225 planes and launching several new flight hubs. The budget airline flies to 59 destinations and is popular with Muslim pilgrims to Mecca and expat workers from India, the Philippines and elsewhere.

Flynas is not alone among Gulf airlines interested in going public. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, owned by the ADQ sovereign wealth fund, is actively preparing for an IPO while Emirates and Qatar Airways have been mulling share sales for years.

Still waiting to stretch its wings is Riyadh Air, Saudi Arabia’s new national carrier wholly owned by the PIF, which plans to start flying its stylish royal blue jetliners this year in the fourth quarter.

UAE welcomes Trump amid anticipation of AI chip deals with U.S.

In the final leg of his tour through the Gulf’s royal palaces, U.S. President Donald Trump landed in Abu Dhabi on Thursday as G42 and other UAE tech firms awaited a green light for billions of dollars in advanced chip deals.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed greeted the U.S. leader at Abu Dhabi’s exclusive Presidential Terminal after a brief flight on Air Force One from neighboring Qatar. Also on hand to welcome Trump were the President’s brothers, Vice President and National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, who is Chairman of G42, and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed.

Earlier in the day, Qatar hosted a business conference with Trump in the capital city of Doha and the president talked talked to U.S. soldiers at the Al Udeid U.S. Air Base, which has been an anchor for America’s security alliance in the Gulf.

The U.S. leader woke up in Doha after Emir Sheikh Tamim hosted a lavish state dinner at Lusail Palace on Wednesday night. On Trump’s arrival in Qatar, his motorcade passed sword dancers, parading camels and a royal honor guard mounted on Arabian stallions.

Today’s visit to the UAE is the last stop in his regional tour, which started on Tuesday when he landed in Riyadh and wraps up with Friday’s return to Washington.

Trump and close adviser Elon Musk spent two days in Saudi Arabia, hosted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and holding chats with corporate leaders from such powerhouses as Aramco, the Public Investment Fund, Nvidia, OpenAI, BlackRock and Citigroup.

In Abu Dhabi, where main roads are decked out with neon signs welcoming Trump, the president was expected to announce a preliminary agreement to let the UAE import 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips per year, starting in 2025, boosting the Emirates’ construction of data centers required for the highest level of AI development, Reuters reports.

Twenty percent of the chips will be allocated to UAE tech firm G42, and the remainder will be allocated to U.S. companies like Microsoft and Oracle that are building data centers in the UAE. The deal could potentially extend through 2027 or even 2030, according to the news agency.

The White House said Trump secured deals totaling more than $243 billion with Qatar after leaders from the Gulf peninsula state pledged some $1.2 trillion in American investment. The UAE has committed to investing $1.4 trillion in the U.S. over the next 10 years, while Saudi Arabia said it hopes to reach $1 trillion during Trump’s four-year term.

Among the largest deals was Qatar’s $96 billion plan to acquire as many as 210 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X aircraft. The U.S. and Qatari governments also signed off on a $1 billion agreement for Raytheon to provide counter-drone capabilities to Qatar. General Atomics also secured a nearly $2 billion agreement for Qatar to acquire MQ-9B drones.

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, meanwhile, defended his country’s offer to Trump of a luxury jet to replace the 40-year-old Air Force One, telling CNN it was not an influence-buying effort.

“It is government to government. The transaction has nothing to do with personnel, whether it’s on the U.S. side or on the Qatari side,” he said, adding that Qatar is ready to withdraw the plan if it’s found to be illegal.

Trump takes off for Saudi Arabia to start Gulf deal-making tour

U.S. President Donald Trump departed on Monday for a Middle East tour that will take him to the glittering palaces of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, with the stated mission of generating trillions of dollars in business for American companies.

After he arrives in Riyadh on Tuesday, the President will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who pledged in January to invest $600 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.

Trump countered that Saudi Arabia should be good for at least $1 trillion, a figure that could be unrealistic given the kingdom’s falling oil revenue and budget shortfalls.

On the sidelines of the palace meeting, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is convening a Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum that promises to bring more than 1,000 corporate executives, bankers and investors to the capital for a daylong conference modeled on the annual Future Investment Initiative conference.

The U.S. leader is also due to meet the rulers of all six Gulf states together on Wednesday for a summit hosted by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

When Trump arrives in Qatar the following day, he will make a decision on whether to accept a gift offered by the royal family of a Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet that would be converted into an upgraded version of the president’s Air Force One plane.

The trip concludes in Abu Dhabi, where Trump will meet with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, along with his Cabinet ministers and prominent business figures, and work out details of the government’s pledge to invest $1.4 trillion in the U.S. over the coming decade.

Thiel co-invests with Saudi PIF, Qatar in new business platform

Tech investor Peter Thiel is teaming up with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and a Qatari lender to back a new business-to-business commerce platform, starting with a combined sum of $110 million.

Thiel, a co-founder of data software giant Palantir Technologies and PayPal, will invest in SILQ Group through his Valar Ventures unit, according to a statement issued Wednesday.

The $925 billion Saudi sovereign wealth fund will participate through its Sanabil Investments subsidiary, joining Valar in a group that also includes Qatar Development Bank.

SILQ was formed through a merger between the Riyadh-based online marketplace Sary and ShopUp, Bangladesh’s largest business-to-business commerce platform.

With the funds from Thiel, Sanabil and Qatar, the merged company plans to target markets across the Middle East and Asia, and raise more money in 2027 through an IPO.

“Saudi Arabia and the Gulf represent one of the most exciting economic stories in the world today,” James Fitzgerald, Founding Partner at Valar Ventures, said in the statement. “This merger reflects a bold vision to place these markets at the center of a new commercial ecosystem connecting with South Asia.”

Abu Dhabi’s Multiply eyes $1B divestment from PAL Cooling

Abu Dhabi’s Multiply Group may be getting ready to divest from its PAL Cooling unit, which keeps the UAE capital’s skyscrapers at tolerable temperatures under the Gulf’s sizzling sun.

The firm, a unit of Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed’s International Holding Co., could raise as much as $1 billion if it’s put up for sale, Bloomberg reports.

PAL’S cooling technology involves pumping chilled water into buildings from centralized plants.

Multiply is working with Standard Chartered on the sale, which is at an early stage and has drawn interest from both regional and international investors, the news agency said.

Multiply went public more than three years ago and has investments in companies ranging from Getty Images to Rihanna’s lingerie company.

Abu Dhabi’s ADIA joins sovereign wealth’s $1 trillion club

As 2024 careens to its close – with financial markets jumping even as geopolitical conflicts multiply – Gulf sovereign wealth funds continue to pile up assets.

Leading the way has been ADIA, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which entered the elite $1 trillion club this year with assets reaching $1.06 trillion – trailing only Norway and China – the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute reports.

Among regional neighbors close to joining the club, the Kuwait Investment Authority holds $980 billion in assets and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has about $950 billion. The Qatar Investment Authority stands at $530 billion, according to the SWF ranking.

In Abu Dhabi, a regional center for investing sovereign wealth, Mubadala trails ADIA with $330 billion, followed by ADQ with $250 billion.

Saudi Arabia seals acquisition of 15% stake in London’s Heathrow

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund concluded its yearlong quest to buy a chunk of London’s Heathrow Airport, joining an ownership group that includes the sovereign wealth funds of Qatar and Singapore.

The PIF will own a 15% stake in FGP TopCo, the holding company that controls Europe’s busiest airport, after the deal was finalized on Thursday. The Saudi fund bought into Heathrow at the same time that Paris-based private equity firm Ardian acquired a 22.6% stake in the airport, which has a market value of about 8.7 billion pounds, or  $11 billion.

“Heathrow acts as a crucial gateway to the world, and we look forward to supporting Heathrow’s management in its efforts to secure the sustainable growth of the airport and to continue to maintain its position as a global aviation hub,” Turqi Al-Nowaiser, PIF Deputy Governor and Head of International Investments, said in a statement.

The Saudi fund, which manages some $930 billion in assets, has acquired a range of holdings in the U.K. that includes the Newcastle United football club and large stakes in Selfridges department store and the Rocco Forte luxury hotel group.

Among Heathrow’s owners are the Qatar Investment Authority, which holds a 20% interest, Singapore’s GIC sovereign fund and the Australian Retirement Trust.

LIV Golf a step closer to buying 6% stake in PGA commercial unit

LIV Golf, the upstart league backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, is generating renewed buzz in its two-year dance with the PGA tour.

The sovereign wealth fund is nearing a deal to acquire a stake of about 6% in PGA Tour Enterprises, which would value the U.S.-based golf league’s commercial arm at $12 billion, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the negotiations.

The PIF started LIV Golf in 2022 as a rival to the PGA Tour, setting off court battles after the new league lured away star golfers for contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The two organizations agreed to a merger deal in 2023, but have since been unable to agree on the terms.

LIV is also considering a possible merger with Europe’s DP World Tour, Bloomberg reported last month.

The two golf leagues already have a strategic alliance on prize money growth and some reciprocal memberships.

NEOM replaces CEO amid megaproject’s delays, rising costs

Saudi Arabia’s banner NEOM project is getting a management shake-up.

The Public Investment Fund-owned company running the kingdom’s $500 billion development along the Red Sea coast announced the departure on Tuesday of CEO Nadhmi al-Nasr.

The move follows months of reports on rising costs and delays for the megaproject, which aims to build a 110-mile linear city called The Line for 9 million people and has been a centerpiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 blueprint for modernizing the Saudi economy.

Aiman al-Mudaifer, the head of PIF’s Local Real Estate Division since 2018, was named as NEOM’s acting CEO. “As NEOM enters a new phase of delivery, this new leadership will ensure operational continuity, agility and efficiency to match the overall vision and objectives of the project,” the company said in a statement.

In his role at PIF, Al-Mudaifer oversees all local real estate investments and infrastructure projects, and he is a board member of several prominent companies in the kingdom.

While changing seats at the top, NEOM also announced on Tuesday that it has hired three international consultants for city planning, design and engineering roles connected to The Line. The firms are Austria’s Delugan Missl Associate Architects, San Francisco-based Gensler and Mott MacDonald in the U.K.