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bike, run, swim

Saudi Arabia’s SURJ eyes investment in pro triathlon tour

ready to eat

Saudi delivery startup Ninja reaches $1.5 billion valuation

The Daily Circuit: Saudi PIF seeks triathlon stake + Aroya launches Med cruise

DEal slowdown

Aramco, ADNOC cutting back on M&A amid decline in oil prices

laying tracks

UAE’s Etihad Rail aims to upgrade dilapidated network in Africa

Fans of Saudi soccer club Al Hilal celebrate during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 round 16 match against Manchester City at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, on Monday. Hilal stunned commentators when they knocked out the defending champions during extra time in the seven-goal thriller. (Waleed Zein/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Daily Circuit: Etihad Rail eyes Africa + Oil drop curbs M&A

stoking growth

Foreign direct investment in Saudi Arabia bounces back

AVIATION REFORM

Egypt to open 11 key airports to private sector investment

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed met Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting on Friday in Minsk, Belarus. (WAM)

The Daily Circuit: Saudi FDI bounces back + PAL Cooling sold

Flying Boxes

Abu Dhabi launches test flight for drone parcel delivery service

The Daily Circuit: Kuwait’s Trolley IPO + ADQ seeks Limagrain stake

YOUNG BOSSES

Saudi Arabia bets on younger CEOs to steer new corporate era

The Daily Circuit: Mubadala’s Hong Kong IPO + Borouge teams with Honeywell

BUSINESS AS USUAL

Mideast airlines resume flights after Iran-Israel truce secured

muscle building

Saudi fitness firm Sport Clubs aims to raise $69 million in IPO

The Daily Circuit: Mideast airports resume flights + Saudi Sport Clubs IPO

washington chat

Vance hosts UAE officials to discuss $1.4 trillion investment

future fallout

Investors see possible oil spike, shipping turmoil after U.S. bombing in Iran

first in gulf

Oman to impose personal income tax on its high earners by 2028

The Daily Circuit: Investors react to Iran strikes + J.D. Vance hosts UAE officials

Quick Hits

bike, run, swim

Saudi Arabia’s SURJ eyes investment in pro triathlon tour

London-based Professional Triathletes Organisation raised funds from Warner Bros. Discovery and San Francisco's Cordillera Investment Partners

Bob Kupbens/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Sam Laidlow of France, Kyle Smith of New Zealand and Daniel Baekkegard of Denmark celebrate after the Professional Triathletes Organisation's T100 Triathlon at London Docklands on July 28, 2024

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
July 2, 2025
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Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is looking to further broaden its interests in professional sports after becoming a global power in competitions ranging from golf and soccer to mixed martial arts.

SURJ Sports, an investment arm of the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, is in talks to invest in the organizers of the T100 Triathlon World Tour as part of plans to grow the series, Bloomberg reports.

The Saudi fund is negotiating with the London-based Professional Triathletes Organisation and it’s unclear how much SURJ will invest, the news agency said.

The PTO aims to turn triathlons into a professional sport. Last year, it launched the T100 Triathlon World Tour, which covers a total distance of 100 kilometers (62 miles), including an 80-kilometer bike ride, an 18-kilometer run and a 2-kilometer swim.

Cordillera Investment Partners, a San Francisco-based investment fund, invested $10 million into the PTO in March, Bloomberg reports. Other investors in the PTO include Warner Bros. Discovery. 

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ready to eat

Saudi delivery startup Ninja reaches $1.5 billion valuation

Ninja joins several other emerging Saudi companies that have reached 'unicorn status,' including fintech companies Tamara and Tabby

HAITHAM EL-TABEI/AFP via Getty Images

Delivery motorcycles parked outside an air-conditioned bus station in northern Riyadh

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
July 2, 2025
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Delivery firm Ninja is Saudi Arabia’s newest tech unicorn, reaching a valuation of $1.5 billion after it raised $250 million from local investors.

The funding round was led by Riyad Capital, the investment banking arm of PIF-backed Riyad Bank, the kingdom’s third biggest lender by assets, Bloomberg reports.

Ninja, which was founded in 2022, offers rapid delivery of food and groceries in Saudi, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. It is targeting an IPO by 2027, according to Bloomberg.

Startups in Saudi raised nearly $400 million in the first quarter of this year, highlighting the kingdom’s growing venture capital scene.

Ninja joins several other Saudi start-ups with so-called “unicorn” valuations over $1 billion, including fintech companies Tamara and Tabby.

Meanwhile, Qatar has moved to regulate commercial licenses for its cloud kitchens, the hidden production facilities used by many restaurant brands for booming home delivery services.

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DEal slowdown

Aramco, ADNOC cutting back on M&A amid decline in oil prices

With oil sliding to $67 a barrel, both companies are looking at ways to cut spending and curb their appetites for multibillion-dollar acquisitions

Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

ADNOC service station in the UAE

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
July 1, 2025
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The Gulf’s largest state-owned oil companies are adapting to lower crude prices in the foreseeable future by cutting back on multibillion-dollar acquisitions and selling assets.

Both Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest petroleum exporter, and Abu Dhabi-based ADNOC have slowed down their M&A activities as they assess what the 16% drop in oil prices this year will mean for their bottom lines, the Financial Times reports.

Over the past three years, Aramco and ADNOC have been the oil industry’s most active dealmakers, announcing more than $60 billion of acquisitions as the two giants expanded into gas, chemicals and lubricants.

With oil prices falling to $67 a barrel this week and analysts predicting continued oversupply in the market, both companies are looking at ways to cut spending and curb their appetites for big acquisitions, the newspaper said.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, meanwhile, reported that net profit fell by more than half last year to about $7 billion, reflecting the impact of lower crude prices for the sovereign wealth fund, which owns a 16% stake in Aramco.

The PIF’s income from investment activities, however, gained 38% from the previous year, pushing the fund’s total assets under management above $1 trillion, second among Gulf sovereign wealth funds to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

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laying tracks

UAE’s Etihad Rail aims to upgrade dilapidated network in Africa

The Emirati company is being courted to provide a potential lifeline to Kenya’s Mombasa-Malaba standard gauge railway connection to Uganda

GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images

An Etihad Rail technician at work in the UAE

By
Omnia Al Desoukie
July 1, 2025
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Etihad Rail could take a lead role in upgrading dilapidated railways in Africa, as the developer and operator of the UAE’s nascent national rail network eyes opportunities for overseas expansion.

The company signed a host of initial cooperation agreements in May with governments in Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan and Chad, Arabian Gulf Business Insight reports.

Chiefly, the UAE is being courted to provide a potential lifeline to Kenya’s Mombasa-Malaba standard gauge railway connection to Uganda, an ambitious project which stalled about 400 kilometers short of the border after China pulled back on lending.

The railway will eventually continue on to South Sudan.

Etihad Rail, established in 2009, successfully launched freight operations in the UAE in 2023, with passenger rail services expected to start next year.

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stoking growth

Foreign direct investment in Saudi Arabia bounces back

The kingdom has been prodding trade partners to invest more heavily amid low oil prices that have led to growing budget deficits

Wang Dongzhen/Xinhua via Getty Images

Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Investment

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
June 30, 2025
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Saudi Arabia appears to be rebounding from a slowdown in foreign investment that has strained government budgets and forced cuts in some of the kingdom’s most ambitious construction projects.

First-quarter figures released on Sunday showed that inflows of foreign direct investment reached $6.4 billion, a 24% jump from the same period in 2024 and the best start to a year since 2022.

Saudi Arabia has been prodding trade partners to invest more heavily in the kingdom amid low oil prices that have led to growing budget deficits.

Slowing FDI over the past three years is enabling the UAE to overtake Saudi Arabia this year in the value of awarded construction projects, Bloomberg reports, citing data provided by the Middle East Economic Digest.

Halfway through 2025, the UAE has approved an estimated $31 billion in contracts, compared to Saudi Arabia’s $20.6 billion. If the trend continues, it will be the first time the UAE comes out ahead in awarded contracts since 2018.

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AVIATION REFORM

Egypt to open 11 key airports to private sector investment

Backed by the World Bank, the country aims to modernize its aviation infrastructure and reach the goal of attracting 30 million tourists annually

AMIR MAKAR/AFP via Getty Images

Emirates Boeing 777-200 aircraft connected to a jet bridge for boarding on the tarmac at Cairo International Airport in Cairo

By
Omnia Al Desoukie
June 30, 2025
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Egypt is preparing to open up the operations of 11 major airports to private investment, aiming to modernize the country’s aviation infrastructure and reach its goal of attracting 30 million tourists annually.

Backed by the World Bank’s International Finance Corp., the plan focuses on boosting efficiency and service standards while keeping state ownership intact.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi reviewed the strategy over the weekend, endorsing a timeline that begins with offering Hurghada airport on the Red Sea to the private sector by the end of 2025.

The initiative is set to be finalized next summer.

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Flying Boxes

Abu Dhabi launches test flight for drone parcel delivery service

Emirates Post, the UAE mail service, and express delivery provider EMX are among businesses that could use drones to speed packages to customers

Abu Dhabi Investment Office

Package delivery drone in flight

By
Omnia Al Desoukie
June 26, 2025
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Abu Dhabi launched its first test flight for drone parcel delivery, seeking a solution to speed packages through the capital city’s chronic traffic jams.

The pilot project by aviation technology company LODD, announced on Wednesday, took place through a partnership involving the Abu Dhabi Investment Office and investment group 7X.

Emirates Post, the UAE mail service, and express delivery provider EMX are among 7X’s holdings.

In Dubai, the government has been testing a Chinese-made drone to deliver food and medicine.


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YOUNG BOSSES

Saudi Arabia bets on younger CEOs to steer new corporate era

Some 65% of new CEOs are stepping into the role for the first time, and 71% were promoted from within, evidence of growing trust in homegrown talent

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Woman walking in front of Jareed corporate office

By
Omnia Al Desoukie
June 25, 2025
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Saudi Arabia is ushering in a new era of corporate leadership, with the average age of CEOs at top-listed companies falling to 47 in 2024.

Global consulting firm Korn Ferry attributes the shift to the kingdom’s Vision 2030 industrial blueprint, as companies increasingly turn to younger, Saudi-born leaders to drive transformation.

The data shows 65% of newly appointed CEOs are stepping into the role for the first time, and 71% were promoted from within, which the firm said is evidence of growing trust in homegrown talent.

With 88% of recent appointments going to Saudi nationals, Korn Ferry says Saudi Arabia is focused on building a leadership pipeline from within its borders.

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