Lufthansa, British Airways, Delta and other international airlines are extending flight suspensions or delaying new routes to Saudi Arabia as the kingdom weighs a decision as soon as today on whether to postpone next week’s Future Investment Initiative conference. 

Lufthansa has suspended flights to the Saudi capital until Nov. 18, British Airways plans a limited return on Nov. 3, and Cathay Pacific has extended its suspension through January, The National reports. Delta has pushed the launch of its Atlanta-Riyadh route from Oct. 23 to March 2027, while KLM has canceled Riyadh and Dammam services through Oct. 31. 

The flight disruptions come as major banks and private equity firms have privately raised concerns with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, about attending FII, Semafor reports. 

Executives feel pressure to attend the four-day gathering in person despite their safety concerns, people familiar with the discussions said. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will make the final decision on whether the conference goes ahead next week.

Among Gulf airlines, Qatar Airways has suspended Riyadh and Dammam flights without announcing a return date, while Etihad’s Riyadh cancellations and Flydubai’s suspensions to Riyadh, Dammam and Abha run through today. Emirates flights between Dubai and Riyadh are listed for Tuesday, although its Saudi services have faced cancellations and schedule changes.

When Corient CEO Kurt MacAlpine wanted to move the wealth management business out of the stock market and into private ownership two years ago, Mubadala Capital approached him with an offer to help. 

The Miami-based firm helps wealthy individuals and families manage approximately $525 billion in client assets, making it one of the world’s largest independent wealth managers.

“The entire team at Mubadala saw what we saw from a business perspective,” MacAlpine told podcaster David Senra in an interview released Sunday. He said the Abu Dhabi investor shared his ambitions and provided fresh money without adding to the company’s debt.

Mubadala Capital, the investment management arm of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co., agreed in November 2024 to buy Corient’s Canadian parent, CI Financial. The deal valued CI’s shares at about $3.4 billion and was completed in August 2025, taking the company off the stock market.

Within weeks, Corient announced plans to buy European wealth managers Stonehage Fleming and Stanhope Capital. MacAlpine said those purchases would have been impossible while the company was publicly traded, crediting Mubadala with helping him pursue his expansion plans.

Middle Eastern chemical producers are holding on to most customers despite shipping disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz.

The region’s low prices and production scale make a permanent shift to other suppliers unlikely, Reuters reports.

The Middle East accounted for more than 40% of global polyethylene exports last year, a plastic used in packaging, consumer goods, and industrial products.

Buyers are diversifying their supply chains, with domestic and regional alternatives capturing roughly 20% of demand, but Gulf producers retain a competitive edge thanks to abundant raw materials and proximity to Asian and European markets.

The PIF Saudi International golf tournament that was slated for next month is off the calendar indefinitely, joining a growing list of competitions disrupted by deadly attacks on the kingdom.

Organizers say soccer’s Asian Cup remains on schedule for Jan. 7–Feb. 5, but the Six Kings Slam tennis exhibition has moved to December and FIFA has postponed its FIFAe video game soccer championships, Reuters reports.

The $5 million golf tournament, backed by the Public Investment Fund, had been scheduled for Nov. 18–21 at Riyadh Golf Club; the Asian Tour cited organizational and logistical challenges in postponing its flagship tournament.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, which killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 300, amid a campaign targeting Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities.

Meanwhile, the Future Investment Initiative conference remains scheduled for Oct. 26-29 in Riyadh, with Saudi Arabia planning a hybrid format that would let executives participate remotely, Reuters reported.

Mubadala-owned GlobalFoundries is building two chip factories in New York with up to $21 billion in Japanese government backing. At the same time, the U.S. government is buying a roughly 4% stake in GlobalFoundries.

The plants will be jointly owned by the U.S. and Japan and operated by GlobalFoundries, which is nearly three-quarters owned by the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, Bloomberg reports.

The factories will make chips used in cars, industrial equipment and communications gear, with the first scheduled to open in 2029 and the second dependent on demand.

The U.S. is also reallocating $955 million in incentives toward GlobalFoundries’ expansion and modernization, while the company commits $5 billion to its existing New York and Vermont plants.

Buying the 4% stake in GlobalFoundries is aimed at giving American taxpayers a share in the company’s growth, while the new factories are intended to reduce U.S. dependence on East Asian suppliers for chips, the news agency said.

Abdulla Balalaa says he’s trying to bring more political attention and investment to providing reliable water supplies globally. As the UAE’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability, he will be in a position to do that in leading preparations for December’s U.N. Water Conference that will be hosted in Abu Dhabi.

In an interview with The Circuit, Balalaa said he is preparing to manage discussions on how to finance water infrastructure among governments, businesses, investors and development banks. Nations need to offer projects that investors can fund, supported by clear regulations and measures to reduce financial risk, he said.

Balalaa met with business leaders and financiers during the U.N. General Assembly in New York last month and also talked to philanthropic organizations. His next stop is Bangkok for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings, where he plans to seek partnerships and commitments ahead of the water conference.

Sitting down with The Circuit in his Abu Dhabi office, Balalaa discussed why water projects struggle to attract investment, how scarcity can fuel disputes between countries and how the UAE balances renewable energy investments with its oil and gas industry. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What are the main objectives of the U.N. Water Conference?

One issue is that there is not enough political attention from leadership to water. It is an enabler for economic development and an existential element for human lives. So we want to compel leaders to split their attention. Another thing is that we’re firm believers in innovation and technology. We want to showcase solutions. And when I speak about stakeholders, I refer to governments, the private sector, businesses, but also financiers, multilateral development banks, and funds. We can come up with a true partnership that really bridge the gap and move the needle from where we are today.

Q: Why has water struggled to attract capital?

Let’s start with governments. They need to have the right regulatory frameworks in place. They need to come up with a pipeline of bankable projects. The second thing is the financiers. We need to understand that this is not the government’s responsibility to finance water projects only. The governments and the financiers should work together to make their part more catalytic and focus more on de-risking and capital leverage in order to attract capital.

Q: What was your main takeaway from the meetings at the U.N. General Assembly?

Water has always been held hostage to something, given the nature of it. It intersects with food and agriculture. It intersects with energy. So it’s always water and energy, or energy and water. What we worked on is to try to showcase how important water is as a main enabler for economic development and economic activities.

Q: What can governments do to reduce the risk of water scarcity becoming a source of tension?

We’re going to showcase technologies that can lower the consumption of water in agriculture, but at the same time, without jeopardizing production. Also, there are great examples of how countries can work together whenever they have a shared resource, creating commissions, introducing the concept of benefit sharing and economic development for both, or maybe more than two countries.

Q: How does the UAE reconcile its renewable energy investments with continued oil and gas production?

Our investments today, our portfolio in renewables exceeds 70 gigawatts in over 47 countries, spanning six continents. We diversified our energy. We have nuclear, we have renewables, we have the conventional way of generating power. We have a plan to reach net zero by 2050, and this plan has milestones. But also, worth mentioning here, in oil and gas we’re introducing technologies, like carbon capture technologies. It’s something that’s embedded in our operations.

Q: What will you focus on at the World Bank and IMF meetings in Bangkok?

We’re there to meet the finance ministers, to meet presidents of multilateral development banks, to see how we can work together and partner with them in multiple sectors. Obviously, at the top of this list is water, but also renewable energy and other energy projects, and food security. 

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala is betting on India’s expanding infrastructure and technology businesses as it seeks long-term investment opportunities, Deputy Group CEO Waleed Al Muhairi said.

Al Muhairi, speaking on Tuesday at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi, also said a ruling against Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City football club would not deter Mubadala from investing in the U.K.

Mubadala has already committed billions of dollars to Indian businesses, including a $1.2 billion investment in Reliance Industries’ digital services arm Jio Platforms in 2020. In 2022, it joined BlackRock in a $525 million investment in Tata Power’s renewable energy business.

“India has a massive infrastructure program that I think will not only benefit the country and its population, but also us as investors looking to invest in the country,” Al Muhairi said.

Regarding the Manchester ruling, in which the team was found guilty of all but one of 115 charges brought against it by England’s Premier League after a four-year investigation, Al Muhairi said that is a separate issue.

“We have been and continue to deploy in the United Kingdom, and what goes into our calculus for where we deploy are partnerships, risk-reward and what makes sense over time,” he said.

Saudi Arabia wants global investors to keep coming to Riyadh despite attacks on its airport and oil facilities, but is preparing to let them join its biggest investment gathering from home.

The Future Investment Initiative plans to offer remote participation for its flagship Oct. 26-29 conference after deadly attacks on King Khalid International Airport and other sites around the kingdom prompted executives to reconsider travel, Reuters reports.

Some delegates may fly to airstrips outside Riyadh or neighboring Gulf countries and drive to the capital, while organizers have canceled the youth-focused Misk Global Forum and major oil executives have dropped out of the WPC Energy Congress this week.

The threat to Saudi business widened on Tuesday when a Houthi attack hit Saudi Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran, causing a limited fire but no casualties, and strikes across the kingdom continued on Wednesday, Bloomberg reports.

The fighting has killed at least 18 people and injured hundreds in Saudi Arabia over the past week. Brent crude has traded at or above $100 a barrel for more than a month – up from $60 to $70 a barrel in the first two months of the year – as Iran steps up attacks on ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz.