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  • Airbus keeps top spot with 766 jet deliveries in 2024

    Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab delivered 766 jets in 2024 and looked certain to maintain leadership of the jetmaking industry for a sixth year as arch-rival Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab recovers cautiously from a prolonged internal crisis, company data showed on Thursday. The European planemaker fell fractionally short of its target of "around 770" jets but said it had met the goal after giving itself a margin for error as global supply chains remain hampered by parts and labour shortages. Jefferies analyst Chloe Lemarie said the missing four aircraft were small A220 models, leaving deliveries of the widely used larger models in line with expectations.

  • UAE, Saudi markets eye fresh wave of blockbuster IPOs after record 2024

    This comes as the Gulf region’s two largest economies build on a year that saw Saudi Arabia list 57 companies while the UAE raised $6 billion from just seven IPOs. The UAE’s IPO pipeline could include potential landmark deals such as national carrier Etihad Airways, online marketplace Dubizzle, hospitality firm Five Holdings, and IT company Alpha Data, though none have officially confirmed listing plans. The two markets are taking markedly different approaches to public offerings. The UAE has focused on fewer but larger deals, with food delivery platform Talabat and retailer Lulu Group leading seven listings that collectively raised AED22 billion ($6 billion) in 2024. Other significant listings included Abu Dhabi National Hotels Catering, NMDC Energy, Alef Education, Spinneys, and Parkin.

  • Gulf still struggling to attract private cash for public projects

    “Four or five years ago the region began focusing more on PPPs, announcing pipelines of projects,” says Sami Neffati, managing partner of Investcorp Infrastructure Partners, part of Bahrain’s Investcorp (part-owned by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala). But when you look at the delivery, “you would have seen delays, process [challenges] and cancellations.” The region is still “teething”, Neffati says, and learning about the discipline of PPPs. While most countries have PPP offices, often housed within finance ministries, Neffati says the authorities, who own the assets, still struggle to delegate project management and “intervene too much”.  “They feel they need to control the process, but they don’t know how,” he says. “Very often, that leads to a failed or delayed process.” Progress is being made, Neffati says, but “delivery needs to accelerate”.

  • Saudi ID and visa – major new rules announced; and we couldn’t be happier

    As reported by Arabian Business, residents can now extend their exit and re-entry visas (single or multiple) while abroad. This means you can extend your holidays without having to worry about re-entering Saudi before you exit visa expires. The General Directorate of Passports also announced that dependents of residents and domestic workers who are outside of the Kingdom can now renew their resident IDs. This used to have to been done when the person was in Saudi – but now it can be done from abroad.

  • Saudi Arabia Plans to Deploy 48GWh of Battery Storage by 2030

    According to foreign media reports, the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has officially announced the list of prequalified bidders for its first battery energy storage system (BESS) procurement. The state-owned enterprise revealed on December 30 the companies selected for its upcoming Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model tender for a 2GW/8GWh energy storage system. The list of successful bidders includes prominent companies from the Middle East and abroad, such as Masdar, headquartered in Dubai, Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power, and France's EDF and TotalEnergies. Leading renewable energy and energy storage companies from China, South Korea, and Japan are also among the selected bidders. A total of 33 companies passed the qualification review for the tender, with 21 applying to provide technology and manage the BESS and the remaining 12 focusing solely on system management.

  • Saudi PIF-Backed Cooling Firm Taps Citi, SNB Capital for IPO

    Saudi Tabreed District Cooling Co. is working with Citigroup Inc. and SNB Capital for a potential initial public offering in Riyadh, according to people familiar with the matter. The PIF, as the wealth fund is known, acquired a 30% stake in Saudi Tabreed in 2022. The holding was valued at about $250 million, Bloomberg News had reported at that time. The Dubai-listed National Central Cooling Co., also known as Tabreed, holds a 21.8% stake in its Saudi affiliate, according to its 2023 annual report.

  • Saudi king and crown prince congratulate Joseph Aoun on being elected president of Lebanon

    Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman congratulated Joseph Aoun on being elected president of Lebanon on Thursday. In a congratulatory cable, King Salman wished Aoun success and the Lebanese people further progress and prosperity.The crown prince sent a similar cable. Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to elect the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum. Thursday’s session was the 13th attempt to elect a successor to Michel Aoun, whose term ended in October 2022.

  • Lenovo to build $2 billion PC and server plant in Saudi Arabia

    As leading PC makers try to reduce their reliance on manufacturing in China, they sometimes expand production capacity in unexpected places. Lenovo Group said on Thursday that it would build a PC and server assembly factory in Saudi Arabia that will primarily serve markets in the Middle East and Africa. The project is backed by a $2 billion investment from Alat, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). The PC and server assembly plant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) will be quite large: it will employ thousands of people and produce millions of PCs per year when it comes online in 2026, according to the company. Lenovo also plans to establish local research and development (R&D) operations "for fully end-to-end 'Saudi Made' products," which possibly implies tailoring products to local market needs. At the same time, a $2 billion computer assembly factory is a large industrial facility potentially with huge capacity. Without a doubt, this will be one of the most extensive high-tech facilities in the region and one of the major computer plants in the world.

  • Saudi EXIM is the Strategic Partner of the FUTURE MINERALS FORUM 2025

    The Saudi Export-Import Bank (Saudi EXIM) will participate as a strategic partner in the 4th edition of the FUTURE MINERALS FORUM 2025, organized by the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources. The event will take place from January 14 to 16 at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh, under the theme: “Year of Impact." Saudi EXIM's partnership aims to support and empower the mining sector, and stimulate investment opportunities through active participation in panel discussions, the exhibition, and by showcasing its financing and credit solutions. These initiatives are specifically designed to enhance the global reach and growth of Saudi mining and mineral exports.

  • Saudi Crown prince and Zelenskyy discuss Ukrainian-Russian crisis in phone call

    Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman received a phone call from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. During the call, they discussed relations between Saudi Arabia and Ukraine. They reviewed several issues of mutual concern, as well as regional and international developments. The two leaders also discussed the latest developments on the Ukrainian-Russian crisis and the efforts being made to address them.