Good morning, wonderful people. It’s one of the slowest mornings for news that we can remember — slow even by the standards of a Monday. You can expect things to pick up today as we slide toward the Founding Day long weekend (and as the countdown to Ramadan is now below the three-week mark).

A programming note before we get underway this morning:

We are delighted to welcome our friends at Cenomi as our first pillar advertiser of EnterpriseAM Saudi. Readers in the Kingdom will need no introduction to Cenomi: It is Saudi’s largest fully integrated retail and shopping center player whose vibrant destinations connect consumers to international brands, in store and online. Who among us hasn’t walked Cenomi’s wide hallways with friends and families on a scorching day?

Longtime Enterprise readers know we love nothing more than an entrepreneurial success story, and that’s Cenomi in a nutshell. Cenomi traces its roots to 1990, when Fawaz Alhokair and his brothers Abdulmajid and Salman opened two menswear stores in Riyadh. In the years since, the company has grown to become a leading international retail and shopping center player and the gateway to the Kingdom for major global brands including Inditex, Apple, Decathlon, Subway, as well as a host of home-grown entries.

Tadawul-listed Cenomi is a proud standard bearer for the Saudi business community in global markets. In addition to representing more than 90 leading brands in the Kingdom, Cenomi Retail is a player in 10 countries across the Middle East and CIS.

Cenomi Centers has 22 assets with some 5k stores in 10 cities across the Kingdom, including the iconic lifestyle centers Mall of Arabia Jeddah and Nakheel Mall Riyadh. Cenomi’s portfolio also includes our friends at Marakez, the leading mixed-used developer in Egypt with District 5 and the Mall of Arabia, among other destinations.

Cenomi walks the walk when it comes to innovation, too: Already the largest owner, developer, and operator of shopping centers and complexes in the Kingdom, Cenomi aims to open in 2025 Jawharat Riyadh and Jawharat Jeddah — destinations that will offer “lifestyle experiences in partnership with some of the world’s most iconic brands” and aim to once again redefine retail in the Kingdom.

From Saudi Arabia to the UAE, Egypt, and the region’s climate and logistics markets, Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of our advertisers. We hope you’ll join us in thanking Cenomi for making this possible.

HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- The Saudi Capital Market Forum gets underway this morning in the capital city, with speakers set to include the ministers of finance, investment, and economy and planning, as well as CMA Chairman Mohammed ElKuwaiz and top Tadawul officials.

The two-day event includes three tracks each day and an absolutely packed list of speakers. The three tracks for today include:

  • The greatest success story of the 21st century: Including a fireside chat with CMA boss ElKuwaiz, and 1:1 sessions with top officials from Aramco, Neom, and KAFD
  • Unleashing the potential of Saudi capital markets, where we’re excited to see what comes out of the session on derivatives, billed as the “next big thing”
  • The tech Advantage: Leveraging Innovation in Capital Markets, which will go deep into everything from the role of artificial intelligence in capital markets to the future of digital finance in the Kingdom.

A who’s-who of national, regional, and global industry figures will be on site and on stage. Saudi Capital Markets Forum is supported by our friends at Cenomi, HSBC, EFG Hermes, Al Hammadi, Retal, and CI Capital.

Can’t attend in person? Live stream the proceedings in the comfort of your office on theforum’s Youtube feed.

Want to go deeper? You can tap or click here to check out the full agenda. The website also includes shuttle bus, parking, and Uber drop-off instructions for attendees arriving at King Abdullah Financial District.

#2- Also this morning: The Future of Business 2024 Forum gets underway in Dammam.

WEATHER- Today is looking sunny and cheerful in Riyadh and Madinah, with a few whisps of cloud set to sweep over Makkah.

  • Riyadh: 23°C daytime / 13°C overnight
  • Makkah: 30°C daytime / 16°C overnight
  • Madinha: 27°C daytime / 14°C overnight

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Global advisory firm Rothschild will be setting up shop in King Abdullah Financial District to offer its full suite of M&A, debt, and equity advisory offerings to local clients in what the firm said in a statement, adding that the move reflects its “commitment and conviction to the growth potential” of the Kingdom.

The Riyadh office will be led by Nasser Alissa (LinkedIn) who was appointed managing director and head of Saudi Arabia in 2022. The team will include seven bankers with a possibility for doubling the number in the medium term, Bloomberg quotes Saeed Al Awar, partner and head of the Middle East at Rothschild, as saying.

The firm has recently advised Tadawul on its acquisition of a minority stake in Dubai Mercantile Exchange and Rocco Forte Hotels on a 50% stake sale to the Public Investment Fund.

#2- Ajlan & Bros Holding Group is looking to make investments worth more than USD 1 bn in China’s petchems, renewables, and tech sectors this year, senior VP Vincent Yan tells the South China Morning Post.

Ajlan is talking to “top-tier listed companies” in sectors including tech, oil, renewables, electric vehicles and petrochems, the newspaper quotes Yan as having said.

Part of Ajlan’s pitch: It’s a natural partner to take Chinese companies into the Kingdom, pointing to how it has helped Chinese equipment makers, gold miners, courtiers, and tech outfits enter the SAudi market.

BACKGROUND- Ajlan and China’s Oriental Energy inked a manufacturing agreement worth up to USD 7.5 bn on the sidelines of the China-Saudi Investment Conference in Beijing in December 2023.

#3- Are US equities starting to look a little bit frothy? That’s the take from Katie Martin in her latest Long View column in the Financial Times, wherein she notes that “the phrase ‘irrational exuberance’ keeps cropping up conversations with investors. This is not normal, and not a great sign.” (She’s calling back to former Fed boss Alan Greenspan’s warning that many, in retrospect, say correctly identified the early days of the so-called dot-com bubble.)

Sure, you can see signs investors may be a little irrationally exuberant about Meta, Microsoft, and Nvidia shares, but what worries Martin most is “the glassy-eyed belief that these US stocks’ ascent represent some kind of new revolutionary productivity paradigm, led by artificial intelligence and spilling its bounty across corporate America, that is really stirring memories of the dotcom boom and bust.” Go read: Bubble talk builds in frothy US stocks.

SIGN OF THE TIMES- Education Minister Yousef Al-Benyan led a delegation to Canadato meet with school and university officials as well as government officials in Ottawa and Toronto.

On the agenda: Cooperation on everything from medical education to how to embed entrepreneurial incubators in the universities. The visit is a welcome sign of full normalization of ties between Ottawa and Riyadh.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

It’s a mixed bag this morning in the global business press. The Financial Times leads with news that Apple has been slapped with its first-ever fine in the European Union — a EUR 500 mn hit after an antitrust probe urged on by Spotify. The fine comes just days ahead of Apple rolling out an iOS update that will allow the sideloading of apps and separate marketplaces on its phones in the EU after pressure from the regulator.

The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, notes that a USD 355 mn “New York fraud ruling against Donald Trump stands to put a serious dent in his bank account.” The Donald is barred from being an exec at any New York company for three years and has blocked him from applying for loans from any financial institution chartered in New York state.

Closer to home: Bloomberg notes that “Ken Moelis’s long courtship of governments in Dubai and Saudi Arabia is paying off,” pointing to tombstones for Aramco and Adnoc and whispers among competitors that “Moelis has turned its Middle Eastern operation into one of the bank’s biggest revenue generators per employee — no mean feat in a part of the world that’s not known for big fees.”

Deutsche Bank is also having a moment in the global business press: The Wall Street Journal has a long take out that notes Christian Sewing may have shored up the fate of the storied institution, but investors have yet to (fully) buy into his turnaround story. And everybody and her brother is taking note of the fact that Deutsche has (a) ordered managers back to work four days a week — and (b) banned the practice of working from home on Fridays and Mondays. (Fortune | Bloomberg | Still more Bloomberg | Financial News)

MORNING MUST READ-

Speaking of working from home and other ideas reshaping the workplace: Have you heard of meeting-free Fridays ? Did you know that one recent survey found working from home could increase your odds of missing out on a promotion — or of being fired?

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Riyadh will host the International Conference on Sand and Dust Storms in the Arabian Peninsulafrom Monday, 4 March to Wednesday, 6 March. The conference will address regional challenges caused by sand and dust storms and discuss monitoring systems, mitigation strategies, economic and infrastructural impacts, and more.

Tickets are on sale for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, scheduled for Jeddah from 7-9 March.

Riyadh will host a World Economic Forum special meeting on 28-29 April.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

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