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REAL ESTATE-
#1- The National Housing Company (NHC) inked an agreement with Chinese contractor China Machinery Engineering to build 20k residential units in NHC projects, it said on Linkedin yesterday. Neither the financial value, timeline, or project locations were disclosed.
Background: This comes just weeks after NHC sealed a SAR 1 bn contract with Spanish company Urbas to build 589 residential units for its Al Fursan project. The project, which is being developed by the Housing Ministry’s real estate investment arm, is one of the biggest suburbs regionally.
#2- Al Akaria finalizes contract for Diriyah car parking project: Binyah — a unit of Saudi Real Estate (Al Akaria) — signed a SAR 532.1 mn contract to carry out excavation work for two car parks for PIF-owned Diriyah Gate, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul yesterday. The freshly-inked contract will be valid for c. 14 months.
REMEMBER- Binyah is carrying out excavation work for a new metro line under a SAR 722 mn contract signed with Diriyah Gate last month.
DEBT WATCH-
#1- The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) raised USD 2 bn from its first benchmark sukuk issuance this year, it said in a statement last week. It was priced at a final yield of 4.754% payable on a semi-annual basis. The sale for the five-year sukuk was oversubscribed, with “strong participation from real money accounts and official institutions as well as a number of first-time investors,” the Jeddah-based multilateral lender said. The final allocation saw 58% to investors from the region, followed by 17% for Asian investors and 16% to European investors and 9% for US offshore and others.
Use of proceeds: The IsDB said it will channel proceeds from the sale for the development of sustainable projects across its 57 member countries. The projects aim to boost food security, reduce poverty and provide sustainable infrastructure among others.
Advisors: IsDB hired out friends at HSBC as joint lead manager and joint bookrunners along with Citi, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Standard Chartered, DBS Bank, ICBC, Natixis, SNB Capital, Dubai Islamic Bank, and Sharjah Islamic Bank.
#2- Al Rajhi Bank wrapped up the issuance of USD 1 bn additional tier 1 sustainable sukuk at a final yield of 6.375%, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul yesterday. The debt transaction saw heavy demand from local and foreign investors with some USD 3.5 bn in orders, according to Reuters. The sukuk have no fixed maturity rate and can first be redeemed after five years, according to the bank.
Advisors: Al Rajhi Bank hired our friends at HSBC, along with Al Rajhi Capital, Citigroup Global Markets, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Bank, Goldman Sachs International and Standard Chartered Bank as joint lead managers and bookrunners.
TECHNOLOGY-
#1- Local tech company DataVolt signed an investment agreement with the Uzbekistan government under a plan to develop up to 500 MW of green data centers across the Central Asian country, it said on Linkedin yesterday. The announcement comes a week after it broke ground on what it says is the world’s first data center to be operated on “green energy” at the IT Park Uzbekistan. The data center, valued at USD 150 mn, will have a total capacity of 10 MW.
#2- Al Moammar Information Systems (MIS) signed two contracts to provide system support services to the Justice Ministry and the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), it said in two separate disclosures (here and here). MIS signed a SAR 81.2 mn contract with the Justice Ministry to support and upgrade IT systems used by the Justice Ministry. The second contract, valued at SAR 86.5 mn, sees the Tadawul-listed IT company providing network management and operation support services to SEC.
TOURISM-
Almosafer to turn Aseer into “top-tier global tourist destination”: Seera Group’s Almosafer entered a strategic partnership with Aseer Development Authority (Asda) to turn the southern mountainous Aseer province into a leading tourist hub, it said in a statement (pdf) yesterday. Under a new MoU, Asda will provide training and advisory services on the region to Almosafer front-line staff through the Almosafer Academy. The travel group will create package options to promote Aseer through its destination management subsidiary Discover Saudi.
Big plans for Aseer: Asda plans to turn Aseer into a world-class tourist destination while preserving the area’s natural environment, according to its website. It eyes luring in 9.3 mn tourists by 2030.
MANUFACTURING-
Cairo-listed Elsewedy Electric could earmark EGP 5 bn in capex in its 2024 budget as it looks to complete ongoing investments in its pipeline including in the Gulf, it said in a disclosure to the EGX (pdf) yesterday. This includes Elsewedy’s investments in the Kingdom, as the company looks to expand the production capacity of its factory here as part of its activities in the GCC, the statement read.
M&A WATCH-
Riyadh-based steel and wire maker United Wire Factories (Aslak) has extended an MoU for the potential acquisition of a stake in Al Raeda Industrial Investment foran additional period of 180 days, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul yesterday. Upon fruition, the agreement — which was initially signed in November of last year — will see Aslak acquire an unspecified stake in the Jeddah-based polymers manufacturing company in a bid to diversify its income.
