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  • Saudi wealth fund PIF to sell further stake in STC in potential $1.1 billion deal

     Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund PIF has hired Goldman Sachs and Saudi National Bank (1180.SE), opens new tab to sell around a 2% stake in the country's telecom group STC (7010.SE), opens new tab in a deal that could raise up to $1.1 billion, according to a statement from the banks. The price of the shares will be determined through an accelerated book building process, the banks said. PIF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PIF, which sold 6% of STC for $3.2 billion in 2021, will keep a 62% stake in the telecoms group after the offering, whose final results will be announced on Thursday. STC will not receive any proceeds, the banks added.

  • Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Trims Nintendo Stake Again

    The Public Investment Fund cut its position in the the Kyoto-based games company to 6.3% from 7.5%, according to a filing to Japan’s Finance Ministry. That follows a sale of more than 17 million shares over a six-week period to October. The Saudi fund, which manages about $930 billion in assets, remains one of Nintendo’s biggest shareholders, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

  • Saudi Arabia prioritizes sports for NEOM plans as costs balloon, sources say

    Saudi Arabia has scaled back lofty ambitions for its NEOM gigaproject to prioritize completing elements essential to hosting global sporting events over the next decade as rising costs weigh, three sources told Reuters a day after the sudden departure of the project's longtime CEO.Saudi Arabia has scaled back lofty ambitions for its NEOM gigaproject to prioritize completing elements essential to hosting global sporting events over the next decade as rising costs weigh, three sources told Reuters a day after the sudden departure of the project's longtime CEO. "When the (NEOM) project was first pitched as an idea, costs were $500 billion. However, The Line alone was going to cost over a trillion which was why it's been scaled back," one consultant with knowledge of the matter said.

  • Air Products in talks for more NEOM offtake

    Negotiations are underway for additional offtake at the NEOM green hydrogen megaproject in Saudi Arabia which would exceed the production of the facility, according to CEO Seifi Ghasemi. Speaking on an earnings call following the release of Q4 and full year results (click here), Ghasemi said construction is about 60% complete, and it is on track to launch the facility at the end of 2026. Target production is 600 tonnes of hydrogen daily and analysts heard how the company plans to ‘fully load’ from 2027.

  • Trump’s Middle East Picks Signal Staunch Pro-Israel Policy

    President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominees to serve as top diplomatic envoys to Israel and the Middle East have little, if any, official policy experience in the region. But there is not much question about where their sympathies lie. Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas who was tapped on Tuesday to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel, has said that “there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian” and argued that all of the West Bank belonged to Israel. Steven Witkoff, who was named on Tuesday as the incoming administration’s Middle East envoy, raised a vast amount of money for Mr. Trump’s campaign — including from Jewish voters after the Biden administration stopped shipping some bombs to Israel.

  • Commentary: Saudi Arabia’s ruler used to be one of Trump’s biggest fans. This time it’s complicated.

    "Gulf Arab states have concerns about Trump being unpredictable and the risks of having him back in the White House," Giorgio Cafiero, CEO of consultancy Gulf State Analytics, told Business Insider. Of particular concern, said Cafiero, is the fear that Trump could inflame the Middle East at a time when it is on the brink of all-out regional war. "His first administration had a highly Israel-centered foreign policy in the region and there are many open questions about how he'll approach the wars in Gaza and Lebanon after his second term begins in January 2025," he added.

  • Diving in Saudi Arabia: Discover the Red Sea’s Newest Dive Haven

    The Red Sea has attracted many scuba enthusiasts, may they be diving out of Aqaba in Jordan, Eilat in Israel or the dive centers of Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada or Dahab, home of the famed Blue Hole. In Saudi Arabia, where the Red Sea meets over 1,200 miles of its western shoreline, scuba diving isn't new to locals. However, international travelers like myself are only now discovering the recreational diving scene in this Middle Eastern kingdom, because historically, it hasn’t always had its doors open to tourism.

  • Saudi Fintech Lean Raises US$67.5m in Series B Funding Round

    Lean Technologies, a Riyadh-based financial infrastructure provider that enables businesses to embed banking services into their platforms, has secured US$67.5m in Series B funding led by General Catalyst. The investment brings Lean's total funding to more than US$100m and positions the company to expand its open banking services across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. General Catalyst, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm known for investments in high-growth technology companies, led the round. Other participants included Bain Capital Ventures, Duquesne Family Office - managed by investor Stanley Druckenmiller - Arbor Ventures and Saudi Venture Capital.

  • Israel hits Beirut, ceasefire terms come into focus

    A senior Lebanese official has signalled that Hezbollah is ready to pull its forces away from the Lebanese-Israeli border in any ceasefire, whilst rejecting Israel's demand for freedom to act against the Iran-backed group in the future. Pressing its offensive against Hezbollah, Israel launched airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs for a third consecutive day, levelling more buildings in the area of the Lebanese capital controlled by the group.

  • COP29 climate talks urged to find $1 trillion a year for poorer countries

    Developing countries need at least $1 trillion per year by the end of the decade to cope with climate change, economists told U.N. talks in Baku, where early efforts to reach a finance deal risk being overshadowed by diplomatic rows. Money is a focus at COP29 whose success is likely to be judged by whether it can agree a new target for how much richer countries, development lenders and the private sector must provide each year to help developing countries finance the transition to greener energy and protect against extreme weather.