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King Salman taking the lead in yesterday’s weekly cabinet following his recovery from lung inflammation is dominating coverage of Saudi in the foreign press. The news is getting ink from Reuters | Bloomberg | AFP and others. We have more on the weekly Cabinet meeting in the news well, above.
Meanwhile, growing investor appetite for Saudi IPOs is getting ink from Bloomberg, which notes that the Tadawul IPOs of Fakeeh Care, Saudi Manpower Solutions, Rasan, and Miahona have generated a combined SAR 659 bn (USD 176 bn) in orders. The demand for fresh paper has outpaced orders on Aramco’s record IPO in 2019, but is also taking a toll on the stock market as investors look to hold onto liquidity to invest in the fresh offerings.
What the pundits are saying: “There is a notable surge in demand and a rush to the market,” Marwan Haddad, lead portfolio manager for Mena equities at Azimut said. “The high demand can be attributed to several factors: an influx of hedge fund managers, substantial appetite from retail investors facilitated by up to 10 times leverage from banks, and the ease of subscribing through digital channels,” Haddad said.
Separately, The Washington Post is out with an opinion piece on the potential Saudi-US defense pact, suggesting that Israel’s continued objection to moving towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state could undermine the agreements between Riyadh and Washington.
