Good morning, wonderful people. The only thing more packed than this morning’s issue are Riyadh’s roads on weekday afternoons. We have for you this morning news from UIHC’s IPO, EFG Hermes’ USD 300 mn Saudi-focused education fund, a passel of developments on Planet Startup, and a look at the real estate market in the week after Cityscape Global.

BUT FIRST- We’re delighted this morning to welcome Tas’heel Finance as our anchor sponsor of EnterpriseAM Saudi Arabia. Tas’heel is a fast-growing innovator in the Kingdom’s burgeoning digital financial services market. It’s the leading NBFI installment provider in the Kingdom and has built on its cornerstone partnership with electronics giant eXtra to include more than 300 retailers and service providers from Ikea to Saudi-German Hospital, Virgin Megastore, and Gold’s Gym. It serves hundreds of thousands of clients online and at in-person locations across the Kingdom, offering personal finance, installments, credit cards, and more.

Tas’heel is a company with ambitions that match ours: Led by a globally experienced management team, it aims to be the leading multi-product, multi-category digital financial services company in the Kingdom as well as Saudi’s largest provider of Shariah-compliant consumer finance solutions.

Please join us in welcoming the good people at Tas’heel to EnterpriseAM Saudi. Their support ensures your morning read is available without charge every weekday morning.

IPO WATCH-

#1- Our friends at Tas’heel kick off this morning the two-day retail subscription for their IPO on Tadawul’s main market. The United International Holding Company — which owns and operates the Tas’heel brand name — will offer 10% of the shares in its IPO to individual investors, who can place orders for up to 250k shares per buyer. The final allocation of shares will take place next Monday (25 November).

The institutional offering was a runaway success, selling out within minutes of opening last month as investors placed bids totalling more than SAR 131 bn, making the offering 132x oversubscribed.

REFRESHER- The financial services arm of United Electronics Company (eXtra) is taking a 30% stake to Tadawul and has priced the IPO at the top of its indicative range at SAR 132 apiece. The final pricing will see selling shareholders lock in SAR 990 mn in total proceeds, giving the firm a market cap of SAR 3.3 bn at listing. The offering will see eXtra pocket all of the proceeds after an estimated SAR 37 mn are put aside to cover IPO-related expenses, and SAR 190 mn go to repaying some of eXtra’s debt.

ADVISORS- Our friends at HSBC Saudi Arabia are quarterbacking the transaction as sole financial advisor and lead manager, while also acting as joint bookrunners and underwriters with the good folks at EFG Hermes KSA. Our friends at Baker McKenzie are international legal counsel to the bankers, while The Law Firm of Salah Al-Hejailan and Feshfields are advising UIHC.

#2- Multiple Saudi companies are said to be mulling listings on the Hong Kong Exchange in a bid to raise funds for infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia, HKEX Chairman Carlson Tong Ka-shing told South China Morning Post, citing senior officials from Tadawul and the PIF who spoke with a Hong Kong delegation in Riyadh last month.

What he said: “It is a win-win situation for Saudi companies to list in Hong Kong as they can raise funds to diversify their economy, while Hong Kong and international investors can also access the Gulf economy,” explained Ka-shing.

BACKGROUND- Investors are increasingly active on the Riyadh-Hong Kong corridor. Bank Albilad rolled out the SAR 4.49 bn CSOP MSCI Hong Kong China ETF last month to become Saudi Arabia’s largest ETF to track Hong Kong-listed Chinese stocks. That mirrored Hong Kong’s move to list a Saudi-focused ETF on the Hong Kong exchange in November of last year.

#3- Qualified investors have until Thursday to subscribe to Arabica Star’s 25% stake offering on Tadawul’s parallel market, Nomu. The final allocation of shares is slated for Tuesday, 26 November.

WEATHER- Riyadh is looking at a high of 31°C and a low of 16°C today. Over in Makkah, the mercury will peak at 34°C and hit a low of 24°C. Meanwhile, Dammam is looking at a high of 31°C and a low of 20°C.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Global index provider FTSE Russell is set to increase Aramco’s investability weight in its Global Equity Index Series (GESI) to 2.38%, up from 1.85% as part of its December 2024 quarterly review, it said in a statement (pdf). The increased investability weight means greater visibility to international investors and could lead to more foreign capital inflows, supporting Aramco’s global market appeal. The statement has all the details on how Aramco’s weight will change in selected FTSE Russell headline indices.

IN CONTEXT- The update follows Aramco’s USD 12.4 bn secondary offering back in June, which redistributed some ownership to international and local investors, while the Saudi government retained a 97.62% stake.

#2- Egypt’s Mountain View expands into Saudi market with SAR 1.2 bn investment: Real estate developer Mountain View has entered the Saudi market with a SAR 1.2 bn investment that will see the developer build 500 housing units in the Kingdom, Argaam reports.

We saw this coming: Back in September, Mountain View announced that it would be introducing its first project — developed in partnership with local developers Maya Real Estate Development and Investment and Al Saedan Real Estate — to the Kingdom by November.

#3- Financial services providers can now manage transactions on omnibus accounts for the Saudi debt market after the Saudi Securities Depository Center (Edaa) kicked off omnibus accounts for debt securities, according to an announcement on Tadawul. The launch follows the Capital Markets Authority’s (CMA) approval of new omnibus regulations which took effect on Thursday, with the updated guidelines looking to increase efficiency and streamline investor access to Saudi securities by consolidating accounts. The CMA had drafted the amendments earlier this year.

Uh, Enterprise? What are omnibus accounts? An omnibus account is a shared investment account that pools together the assets and trades of several customers, allowing brokers to execute, and clear trades on behalf of clients. Omnibus account transactions are executed in the broker’s name, which allows individual investors to maintain anonymity.

#4- Nomu-listed Banan Real Estate received regulatory approval from the Saudi Exchange to transition to the main market, according to a statement. The SAR 200 mn company will continue to trade on Nomu until the transfer document is published. Trading will then halt for up to five sessions before listing on the main market. Tadawul hasn’t given dates for the move.

#5- Nomu-listed food delivery app Jahez International also lined up approval to transfer to the Tadawul main market, according to a statement. The SAR 104.9 mn company will continue trading on Nomu until the transfer is finalized. The exact dates will be announced once the process is finalized.

#6- Yaqeen Capital received approval from the Capital Market Authority for the public offering of its Opportunistic Fund, according to a statement from the authority. No further details about the offering were provided.

NEWS TRIGGERS-

A handful of news triggers coming up in the next few weeks:

  • Trade balance for September (Sunday, 24 November);
  • Riyad Bank PMI for November (Tuesday, 3 December);
  • State budget approval and release (December).

DATA POINTS-

#1- Loans handed out to MSMEs in the Kingdom increased 17% y-o-y in 2Q 2024 to SAR 307.4 bn, Argaam reported, citing data from the Saudi Central Bank (Sama). Medium-sized firms had the lion’s share of credit at SAR 167.3 bn, followed by small enterprises at SAR 106.4 bn, and micro enterprises at SAR 33.7 bn.

#2- Waqf investment funds saw their assets under management (AUM) grow 29.3% y-o-y in 9M 2024 to SAR 1 bn, with five new funds receiving licenses during 3Q, bringing the total number of licensed funds to 34, the General Authority of Awqaf said in a post on X.

#3-The Interior Ministry’s Absher platform processed over 6.35 mn digital transactions in October, according to a press release. ِThe Absher Individuals app saw 3.8 mn operations, topped by residency permit issuances and renewals (314.1k transactions), while the Absher Business platform saw 2.5 mn operations.

OIL WATCH-

Saudi’s oil exports hit a three-month high in September, notching up 80k bbl / d m-o-m, to 5.751 mn bbl / d, according to the latest figures from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative. Meanwhile, production notched down 17k bbl / d at 8.98 mn bbl / d. The story got ink from Reuters.

SPORTS-

⚽ The Green Falcons will face Indonesia today at 3:00 PM (Saudi Arabia time) at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, in a key match for the 2026 World Cup group qualifiers. Currently, the Saudi national team sits in third place with 6 points, trailing Australia on goal difference. The top two teams in the group will automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup in North America, while the third and fourth-placed teams will move on to a subsequent round of qualifier.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

COP29 climate talks in Baku are in disarray and multiple Western media outlets are portraying Saudi Arabia as spoiler-in-chief. Ministers leading the talks, including top officials from Germany, Australia, and South Africa, have flown into Azerbaijan in a bid to put things back on track.

The key sticking points in this final week of talks: Saudi leads a group of countries that don’t want the final agreement to include steps outlining how countries will transition away from fossil fuels and embrace greener energy. Saudi, the UAE and China are also resisting pushes to contribute to a fund to help developing countries transition — backers want a USD 100 bn goal (agreed a decade ago) to be bumped up to USD 1 tn, the Financial Times notes.

The flavor in the western press: “Saudi Arabia is a ‘wrecking ball’ in global climate talks,” blares the headline in the New York Times. Bloomberg has a similar take.

MEANWHILE- Eat the rich: The G20, meeting in Rio, has pledged to impose taxes on the super-rich — and repeated a demand that the climate finance pool be expanded to “tns” not “bns” of USD. The call to tax bn’aires incomes by 2%, pushed by Brazil, is short on specifics.

WORTH READING- The Wall Street Journal’s portrait of the incoming Trump administration’s “point man” on the Middle East, real estate baron Steve Witkoff.

Speaking to Trump II: It’s still unclear who will run Treasury and the National Economic Council, though Bloomberg suggests we may have some clarity here before the week is out.

CLOSER TO HOME- Oman’s state energy company, OQ, is looking to raise as much as USD 490 mn from the IPO of its methanol and liquefied petroleum unit. Cornerstone investors for up to 30% of the offering are reportedly in place.

Saudi Omani Investment is stepping up as an anchor investor: The wholly-owned PIF subsidiary Saudi Omani Investment, along with Gulf Investment Corp., Falcon Investments, and Oman’s Social Protection Fund will be among the cornerstone investors. The subscription period for the offering runs 24 November through 1 December, with trading on the Muscat Stock Exchange to start around 15 December.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Black Hat MEA 2024 cybersecurity conference and exhibition will take place between 26-28 November at the Riyadh Exhibition & Conference Center in Malham. The event will gather cybersecurity professionals and technology developers. Speakers include information security leaders from Bayer, SoftBank Investment Advisors, the US Intelligence Community, the CIA, and Knostic.

The two-day Saudi Green Initiative Forum will kick off on Tuesday, 3 December, according to a statement. The forum will coincide with COP16 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, which will be held in Riyadh between 2 and 13 December.

The two-day Zakat, Tax and Customs Conference 2024 begins on 4 December at the King Abdullah Financial District.

The Red Sea International Film Festival will run from 5-14 December in Jeddah.

The two-day Impact Makers Forum (ImpaQ) is set to open its doors on 18 December, bringing together media influencers, industry experts, and digital content creators in Riyadh’s Mayadeen Hall.

The Fortune Global Forum is coming to Riyadh in December 2025, according to a press release. The forum serves as a platform for the leaders of the world’s largest companies, policymakers, and other influential figures to discuss global economic and business trends, challenges, and opportunities.

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