Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to a very busy morning for the Kingdom. We have a flurry of IPO news to go along with the Future Investment Forum, which began its precursor events yesterday but officially gets underway this morning. Let’s jump right in.

HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- Shares of Fourth Milling Company (MC4) will begin trading on Tadawul’s main market today, according to a Tadawul statement. MC4’s shares can fluctuate within a ±30% range for the first three days, after which price fluctuations will be capped at ±10% as circuit breakers take effect.

REFRESHER- The company priced its 30% stake IPO at the top of its indicative price range at SAR 5.30 per share, after its institutional offering was 119x oversubscribed and its retail offering was 3.9x oversubscribed. The pricing would give MC4 a market cap of SAR 2.9 bn at listing and should see it raise some SAR 858.6 mn in IPO proceeds.

#2- The Future Investment Initiative (FII) Conference formally kicks off this morning and runs until Thursday, 31 October. The conference is led by Public Investment Fund Governor Yasir Al Rumayyan.

Precursor events already underway: The conference includes “external engagements,” which began earlier this week. We have all the details of what’s on the agenda for today and a rundown of key statements in this morning’s news well, below.

WEATHER- A rainy Riyadh is looking at a high of 29°C and a low of 28°C today. Over in Jeddah, the temperature will peak at 34°C and hit a low of 28°C amid thunderstorms. Madinah will also see moderate rainfall, with a high of 33°C and a low of 23°C.

GIGAPROJECTS-

Neom’s first project is now open: Neom officials inaugurated Sindalah Island yesterday, making it the first project from Neom to be opened, according to a press release. Located 5 km off the Neom coastline, the 840k sqm island aims to be a premier resort for yacht owners from Europe and the GCC.

About the project: Designed by Luca Dini, it will accommodate up to 2.4k guests daily by 2028 and features an 86-berth marina and a yacht club. The island offers 38 dining options, a beach club, and a golf club with a world-class course. Guests can choose from 440 rooms, 88 villas, and 218 luxury serviced apartments, with booking details to be announced soon.

We knew this was coming: A “handpicked” group of global financiers, entertainers, and influencers were invited to preview the luxury resort island earlier this week, ahead of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) which kicks off today.

And a map to boot: The Red Sea Authority and the General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information released the first nautical map for the Sindalah island in a bid to safeguard surrounding marine life and allow for safer navigation around the island, according to a post on X.

PSAs-

Gov’t opens the door for investments in national parks: The National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification is now receiving seasonal investment bids for developments in national parks in the Al Baha, Makkah, and Hail regions, it said in a statement. The center is looking for investments in camping, caravans, restaurants, and cafes, temporary sports clubs, and paragliding.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- The Kingdom’s financing needs are attracting big banks (again): Barclays Plc is mulling a re-entry into Saudi in a bid to capitalize on its growing need to access global capital markets, CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan tells Bloomberg. “We will consider corporate banking work, but investment banking and trading will be the focus,” Venkatakrishnan tells the business information service. The PIF had previously tapped Barclays for its inaugural GBP bond sale, which saw it raise GBP 650 mn.

#2- UK-based ins. broker WTW secured a license to operate in Saudi Arabia, according to Reins. News. The company appointed Talal Omar Bahafi (LinkedIn), former CEO of Chubb Arabia Ins. Company, as the new Head of Ins. Broking at WTW Saudi Arabia.

#3- The Saudi Water Partnerships Company (SWPC) plans to award eight water projects worth SAR 30 bn over the next 12 months under a public-private partnership model, the company’s CEO Khaled Al Qureshi was quoted as saying by Zawya.

More to follow: SWPC also plans to offer an additional 10 projects worth around SAR 15 bn over the coming three years, Al Qureshi said. The returns on investment for the 18 projects is expected to range between 7-10%, he added.

DATA POINTS-

#1- The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) fell 0.2% w-o-w, with SAR 24.8 bn in turnover by the end of last week, according to a weekly report from the exchange.

Al Rajhi was the most traded in terms of value at SAR 1.9 bn in weekly turnover, with shares rising 3% over the week. Saudi Aramco came in second at SAR 968.5 mn in trade volume and a 0.2% uptick in share value. Al Baha was the third-most traded stock at SAR 845.8 mn in trading volumes and a 3.7% bump to share price. Chemanol and Rasan were the top gainers, seeing their shares rise by 10.4% and 8.3% each.

Investor mix: Saudi institutional investors traded SAR 6.1 bn-worth of shares, while Saudi individual investors’ turnover came in at SAR 28.7 bn. Meanwhile, turnover from qualified foreign investors came in at SAR 13.2 bn and GCC institutional investors’ turnover was SAR 369.9 mn, according to Tadawul’s weekly stock market ownership and trading activity report (pdf).

#2- The Kingdom allocated 331k hectares for grain cultivation in 2023, of which 323k hectares were harvested to produce 1.75 mn tons, according to the latest figures (pdf) from the General Authority for Statistics. Wheat accounted for 63.4% of the grain-cultivated areas, yielding 1.31 mn tons, making it the dominant crop. Meanwhile, Al Jouf came on top with 62k hectares of grains.

SPORTS-

Al Nassr’s flagship store is now open: Al Nassr opened the doors to its flagship store at U Walk Riyadh in partnership with Cenomi Centers, according to a press release. The store sells official club merchandise and features a cafe.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

It’s a busy morning in the foreign press today, as the situation in Gaza looks increasingly dire and the US elections race continues to heat up.

Israel has moved to ban UNRWA from the country, effectively barring humanitarian aid from the largest aid provider to Gaza and the Palestinians. Several countries — including Germany, the UK, and Belgium — condemned the move. (The Guardian | CNN | Reuters | AP)

Uncertainty over the prospects of a ceasefire continues: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is open to a short truce in Gaza if they could agree on a small hostage swap agreement, though he also denied having received a proposal from Egypt, saying if he had, he would have accepted it on the spot. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi had said a day earlier that he had proposed a two-day ceasefire to exchange hostages, ahead of a 10-day stretch of negotiations for a permanent ceasefire. (Bloomberg | Reuters)

Meanwhile, Netanyahu is pledging to strike more peace agreements with Arab countries in the “day after” the war, Reuters reports.

The situation on the ground: Palestine’s emergency services have warned of 100k Palestinians trapped in Jabalia without food or medical supplies, while in Lebanon, at least 60 were killed in the eastern Bekaa valley yesterday.

The Donald is appealing to religious voters in swing state Georgia as early votes kick off, while Kamala Harris doubled down on her criticism of Trump following a rally of his that saw speakers make racist remarks against Puerto Rico. (Reuters)

IN BUSINESS NEWS- Rivalry between Big Tech heats up: Microsoft is accusing Google of backing a lobbying group designed to undermine its position with competition authorities and that it runs shadow campaigns against Microsoft, while the coalition — the Open Cloud Coalition — claimed it was focus on openness in cloud services, and Google claimed Microsoft is engaging in anti-competitive practices. (Financial Times)

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

WWE Raw is coming to Riyadh for the first time ever on next Saturday and Sunday, 2-3 November, kicking off on the back of the WWE Crown Jewel event the day prior, Turki Alalshikh said in a post on X. You can book your Raw tickets here, and your Crown Jewel tickets here.

The two-day Road Safety and Sustainability Conference and Exhibition will open its doors next Sunday, 3 November, bringing global experts together to discuss technological advancements, AI applications, and sustainability in the transport sector.

The Saudi Rail Conference and Exhibition will take place on 20-21 November at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center. The event will showcase developments in the railway sector and provide insights from over 150 local and international speakers.

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