👋 Hello from the Middle East!

In the Daily Circuit today, we’re looking at Masdar’s solar purchase in Spain, the minority interest acquired in Khazna data centers by MGX and Silver Lake, Abu Dhabi-based Agthia’s acquisition of Riviere, and customers lining up for a $49 million penthouse in the Burj Khalifa. But first, job growth is slowing in Saudi Arabia.

Across-the-board budget cuts at companies owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund are likely to chill employment growth in the kingdom amid declines in oil revenue and foreign investment.

After hitting close to 10% in 2022, growth in recruitment for jobs may slow to 3% by the beginning of next year, a report by the consulting firm JLL Middle East predicts.

The $925 billion sovereign wealth fund has ordered spending cuts across all of its portfolio companies, leading to layoffs, hiring freezes and project delays. Nearly 2 million expatriates have joined the workforce in Saudi Arabia over the past two years, according to government data.

The PIF’s downsizing order reflects the kingdom’s widening budget deficit, which has developed through a decline in both the volume and value of oil exports.

The budget deficit and employment slowdown could also pose challenges for Saudi Arabia as it builds ambitious projects such as Neom and prepares to host major global events including Expo 2030 and the FIFA World Cup, JLL notes.

Eid Mubarak! The Circuit will publish its next issue on Wednesday, April 2, after the holiday. Kindly let us know your thoughts and feedback by replying to this newsletter or emailing us at [email protected].

SKY PALACE

A duplex penthouse in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa skyscraper that carries a $49 million asking price is attracting interest from American buyers, including basketball players, boxers and Nascar drivers. The apartment on the 107th and 108th floors of the world’s tallest building is unfinished, with its concrete floors and wraparound glass windows waiting to be fit out by its new owner, real estate agent Asad Khan tells Business Insider. Measuring 21,000 square feet, the apartment is being marketed as a “Sky Palace,” with amenities that include a private elevator, an indoor pool and 12 parking spaces. The 163-story Burj Khalifa, which was completed in 2010 by Emaar Properties, stands 2,722 feet and contains a mixture of office, residential, hotel, restaurant and retail space.

📷 Photo of the Day

Egypt’s economy is growing at a pace it hasn’t seen since 2022 following last year’s IMF bailout and a massive investment from the UAE. 

GDP grew 4.3% year-on-year in the last three months of 2024, which the government attributed largely to the IMF’s $8 billion loan package and Abu Dhabi-owned ADQ’s $35 billion Ras El-Hekma resort project.

Egypt’s Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation pointed to tourism, trade-related transportation and non-oil manufacturing as the key drivers of economic expansion.

Private investment increased 35.4% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, while public investment contracted 25.7%. Tourism grew by 18% in the fourth quarter, with total visitors rising to 4.41 million

Still, the Egyptian economy suffered some major setbacks, including a 70% decline in revenue from the Suez Canal because of  “ongoing geopolitical tensions” and a 7.5% drop in income from oil production.

Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden mining company is preparing to make major new investments this year to draw gold and phosphates from the kingdom’s vast desert territory.

The Saudi government plans to spend close to $2.3 billion on mining projects for the precious metal and minerals as part of its Vision 2030 blueprint for diversifying the economy and reducing its reliance on oil revenue, Zawya reports, citing the Almal newspaper.

Saudi Arabia controls more than 320 tons of gold reserves in local and foreign banks, the largest in the Arab world and 18th worldwide. Those reserves, together with gold and other metals underground, are estimated to be worth more than $2.5 trillion.

Saudi Arabia controls more than 320 tons of gold reserves in local and foreign banks, the largest in the Arab world and 18th worldwide. Those reserves, together with gold and other metals underground, are estimated to be worth more than $2.5 trillion.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone conversation to sum up a series of investment deals and high-level meetings between the two allies over the past week.

The Abu Dhabi-Washington call on Tuesday followed the announcement that the UAE will invest $1.4 trillion in the U.S. over the next decade, focusing AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy and manufacturing.

The two presidents discussed Trump’s meeting with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAE National Security Adviser and Sheikh Mohamed’s brother, who leads many of the country’s largest companies and sovereign wealth funds.

Sheikh Tahnoon talked to an array of cabinet secretaries and also held meetings with heads of the biggest tech companies, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Palantir’s Alex Karp and xAI’s Elon Musk.

Amid shrinking profits, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said the world’s biggest oil company is shopping for new investments in China.

Nasser spoke in Beijing on Monday at the China Development Forum, where he said Aramco is “currently” supporting projects in the areas of Fujian, Liaoning, Zhejiang and Tianjin.

“I emphasize ‘currently’ because we are continuing to identify additional opportunities, which include energy and chemicals, as well as technology,” Nasser said.

Aramco’s interest in China, Nasser said, rests partly on its emergence as the “world’s largest consumer and producer of petrochemicals, accounting for nearly half of global demand, and it’s becoming a major hub for the entire chemicals industry value chain, which will be critical to industries of the future.”

The conference in Beijing was the first stop for international executives and policymakers trying to navigate trade tensions between the U.S. and China, with the subject hitting center-stage this week at the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan.

The Gulf states have become a dominant force in the world of sovereign wealth funds even if their assets fall shy of those in Norway and China.

Led by the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, government-owned funds in the Gulf are expected to grow 50% by 2030 and control $18 trillion in assets, according to an analysis by Deloitte Middle East. The region is home to six of the world’s 10 largest funds and about 40% of total sovereign assets.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority leads the Gulf with $1.05 trillion, according to Deloitte, followed by the Kuwait Investment Authority at $1.02 trillion, the Saudi Public Investment Fund with $925 billion and the Qatar Investment Authority with $526 billion.

“The Gulf region continues to be the epicenter of sovereign wealth fund activity, with its major players driving innovation in investment strategies and operational excellence,” Julie Kassab, sovereign wealth fund leader at Deloitte Middle East.

Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, with assets of more than $1.7 trillion. China Investment Corp. comes in second with $1.3 trillion.

Another phenomenon identified by Deloitte is the proliferation of Royal Private Offices, or RPOs, that now control approximately $500 billion in assets in the Gulf and have become one of the key drivers behind the creation of new sovereign wealth funds in the region.

Sovereign wealth fund tracker Global SWF has identified 35 RPOs in the Gulf, with the UAE home to a vast majority of the offices. The most significant of them is the Royal Group, a family enterprise headed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAE National Security Adviser and Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi.

Sheikh Tahnoon is also Chairman of sovereign funds ADIA and ADQ, in addition to leading some of the emirate’s largest firms, including International Holding Co., MGX and G42. 

The UAE plans to increase its investments in the U.S. to $1.4 trillion over 10 years.

Following last week’s visit by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed with President Donald Trump and several of his cabinet members, the White House announced that the UAE had agreed to a new investment framework, pledging money for AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy and manufacturing.

Sheikh Tahnoon, the UAE National Security Advisor who leads several of the country’s largest companies and sovereign wealth funds, spent the first part of the week with government leaders.

Later, he met with heads of the biggest tech companies, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Palentir’s Alex Karp and xAI’s Elon Musk.

The UAE’s biggest tech firms are capitalizing on White House support to tighten partnerships with America’s leaders in the booming industry of artificial intelligence.

A consortium created last year by Abu Dhabi investment fund MGX, Microsoft and BlackRock to finance power-hungry AI data centers welcomed chipmaker Nvidia and Elon Musk’s xAI to the group on Wednesday.

Expansion of the top-level venture came amid the Washington visit by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAE National Security Advisor and Chairman of MGX and a constellation of other tech companies, who dined at the White House this week with President Donald Trump.

Sheikh Tahnoon, who held a meeting with Musk through a video feed on Wednesday, has been accompanied through the trip by Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the MGX Vice Chairman and CEO of the Mubadala sovereign wealth fund. Also on the visit is Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of the ADNOC national oil company and the UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology. Peng Xiao, CEO of the Abu Dhabi-based AI company G42, joined the call with Musk.

Among the other meetings in his U.S. rounds, Sheikh Tahnoon said he “explored opportunities for collaboration and investment” with Oracle’s Larry Ellison.

ADQ, meanwhile, another Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon, agreed to invest a combined $5 billion in a partnership with U.S-based Energy Capital Partners to build power stations for data centers and AI projects – with the investment eventually reaching $25 billion.

The announcement came as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told the company’s GTC conference in San Jose, Calif., that the industry is preparing for a massive leap in building data centers and chip manufacturing plants with accompanying energy demand.

“Over the next several years, we’re going to be building giant AI factories,” he said. Not normal AI factories … ones you see from space,” Huang said.