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Saudi Arabia is attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) at a pace that is generating more than 39,000 jobs each year as the Kingdom’s investment climate undergoes sweeping changes. The surge has driven the issuance of over 14,000 investment licenses in 2023 up sharply from just 375 in 2017. The Kingdom has emerged as a key global investment destination, fueled by efforts to create new opportunities for both local and foreign investors, protect their rights, and offer high-quality, streamlined services. This transformation has helped boost licensing activity, drive economic growth, and encourage partnerships between global and local entities. A recent report…

As the dust settles on Donald Trump’s visit to the Gulf, the UAE should be grinning about its AI partnership with the United States. Signing deals is one thing; laying down the foundations for a long-term partnership is another, especially in the dog-eat-dog world of artificial intelligence.  Among the flurry of deals announced during Trump’s four-day trip, the US-UAE AI acceleration partnership stands out for several reasons. The centrepiece of this new alliance is the construction of a 5-gigawatt AI campus in Abu Dhabi, which hogged the headlines partly because of its sheer size. The 10-square-mile facility – to be…

The Public Investment Fund has held the second edition of the Directors’ Gathering, bringing together more than 1,000 top executives from Saudi Arabia and around the world to align on priorities between PIF and its portfolio companies, as well as to exchange insights and enrich the PIF ecosystem. The Directors’ Gathering focused on optimizing board performance and fostering collaboration among PIF portfolio companies and their stakeholders. Held in Riyadh, the event involved directors and executives from approximately 220 PIF portfolio companies, of which PIF has created and established 103, in line with part of its mandate to drive Saudi Arabia’s…

Amid the Donald Trump extravaganza in the Arabian Gulf last week, one notable theme was missing from the proceedings: energy dominance. Sure, there were plenty of energy deals – a wide-ranging MoU on cooperation in Saudi Arabia, as well as oil and gas production agreements in Qatar and the UAE. And energy is sure to have been a prominent subject in all the private discussions that took place beyond the glitzy gala dinners and spectacular conference halls. But the president did not once talk in public of his ambition to make the US the pre-eminent energy power in the world.…

$2.7bn loss on GlobalFoundries Stake in Bitcoin ETF 18 new purchases in Q1 Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co suffered a paper loss of $2.7 billion on its majority stake in US semiconductor maker GlobalFoundries in the first quarter, US regulatory filings show. GlobalFoundries’ stock price has fallen by about half from its March 2022 peak, extending its decline this year.  This lowered the value of Mubadala’s 81.5 percent stake in the New York-state based tech company to $16.6 billion as of March 31, down 14 percent versus December 31.  GlobalFoundaries is the world’s third-largest semiconductor foundry by…

Kuwait plans to return to the global debt market this year and is expected to borrow between $10 to $20 billion during the current fiscal year to finance development projects, a finance ministry official said on Monday. On March 26, the Kuwaiti government issued a debt law that sets the public debt ceiling at a maximum of 30 billion Kuwaiti dinar (about $97 billion), or its equivalent in major convertible foreign currencies. The law also allows the issuance of financial instruments with maturities of up to 50 years. It is valid for 50 years from the date of its entry…

To mainly fund $7.6bn projects Allowed to borrow up to $99bn 2.9% debt-to GDP ratio Kuwait is on the verge of returning to the debt market after an eight-year absence with plans to borrow up to $20 billion during the 2025-2026 fiscal year, according to local media. The loans will be used mainly to fund infrastructure projects worth KD2.3 billion ($7.6 billion) included in the current fiscal year, which started on April 1. The debt law, which was approved by the cabinet and parliament in March, allows the ministry to borrow up to KD30 billion ($99 billion) from local and…

Currently has three Indian branches Subsidiary framework launched in 2013 Was rumoured to be acquiring IDBI Bank India’s central bank has given an “in-principle” approval to Emirates NBD Bank, Dubai’s biggest bank by assets, to set up a wholly owned subsidiary in India. The Dubai-listed lender currently offers banking services through branches in Chennai, Gurugram and Mumbai, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a statement. The approval allows Emirates NBD to set up a wholly owned subsidiary by converting its existing branches in India. The central bank introduced the wholly owned subsidiary framework in 2013 to facilitate foreign…

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is to open its first subsidiary company office in France as it targets doubling its investment in Europe by 2030. The new office underscores the fund’s aim to foster close collaboration with local partners, top companies and institutional investors in Europe, the fund said in a statement. French President Emmanuel Macron and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will attend the opening ceremony, which coincides with the annual “Choose France” event hosted in Paris. This new office will enable PIF to further strengthen its partnerships in the region, the statement said. Last week, Al-Rumayyan said that…

Listings set to raise up to $1.8bn Flynas, SMC and United Carton IPOs 2025 could still beat last year’s total Three initial public offerings launched in the past six weeks stand to raise close to $1.8 billion on the Saudi Exchange – nearly twice as much as the IPOs on the main market in the first quarter. This suggests the lull in Saudi IPOs that followed President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2 has ended, according to analysts. “Things are settling down quicker than expected,” said Muhammad Fawad Khan, equity research analyst at asset manager Alinma Capital. “I…