“The region has retained a robust pipeline, with several companies in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and North Africa having announced their intentions to list.”

-Brad Watson, EY MENA Strategy and Transactions Leader. Saudi Arabia “emerged as a dominant force in initial public offering activity for the region in the first quarter of 2024,” according to EY, with nine IPOs launched during this period, as highlighted by the recently-released MENA IPO Eye Q1 2024 report. [Arab News]

“Saudi Telecom Co.’s net income rose almost 6% year on year to 3.29 billion riyals ($877 million) in the first three months of the year, according to a statement on Wednesday. That beat the average analyst estimate for 3.15 billion. Revenue also exceeded expectations on the back of stronger activity in the commercial unit.”

-Bloomberg report. STC has made a string of global acquisitions over the last year, including a $2.25 billion stake in Spain’s Telefonica, and is said to be in pole position to acquire Altice’s Portuguese business. [Bloomberg.com]

“The major driver for renewable energy in Saudi Arabia is economic. By reducing domestic demand for fossil fuels, the Kingdom can free up barrels for export, bolstering its economic resilience. “As natural gas surpasses oil as the dominant source of power generation in Saudi Arabia, there is a pressing incentive to curtail domestic demand. Factors include the financial capacity to develop bankable projects, abundant renewable resources—particularly solar and wind—and vast expanses of land ripe for development.” Jessica Obeid,  energy policy consultant, Saudi Arabia’s transformation from oil to green energy [Al-Arabiya]

“In 2022, 18 million trees had already been planted. By December 2023, this number had risen to 43.9 million trees and shrubs planted. This equates to 94,000 hectares of degraded land (equivalent to over 146,000 football fields) rehabilitated throughout the country. By 2030, over 600 million trees are expected to be planted – equating to 3.8m hectares of rehabilitated land. Tree planting will continue beyond 2030, to reach the 10 billion target.” Saudi Arabia is planting 10 billion trees across the Kingdom [LinkedIn]

“You can look at Saudi as a sleeping giant who has finally woken up with a great deal of pent-up energy striving to catch up with and overtake those around him. Lots of pressure is being applied in particular on international firms and organizations to domicile their regional headquarters in Saudi… comes with the promise of significant economic benefit to these organizations with large lucrative mandates being awarded to those who complied.” May Nasrallah, founder and executive chairwoman of boutique advisory firm deNovo Partners, which recently received a provisional license to establish their local operations, Banking Giants Race to Riyadh as MBS Steps Up Pressure Campaign [Bloomberg]

“Saudi will become exclusive. That’s a problem. If you want to attract people, and have them come again and again, visit more cities, it can’t be so exclusive. Three-star hotels are enablers for travelers. They democratize travel.” Wyndham’s regional MD, Panos Loupasis, Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 Is Too Expensive For Tourists – And Everyone Knows It [Skift]

_{“PIF’s relationship with BlackRock is well established and growing. Partnering with leading global international companies and asset managers like BlackRock is part of PIF’s growth strategy. This new landmark agreement represents a step forward in PIF’s work in making the Saudi investment and asset management market more internationally diverse and more dynamic.”  Yazeed A. Al-Humied, Deputy Governor and Head of MENA Investments at PIF, BlackRock signs agreement with PIF to accelerate growth of capital markets in Saudi Arabia by launching a Riyadh-based multi-asset investment management platform  [Public Investment Fund]}

“We see that the Saudis, now they are very into the sport. They want to develop the sport, and as long as it gives the opportunity to the people there and the young kids and the women, too, you know, we see that sport  and specifically tennis, it’s actually so close so that they can watch it. They can play, they can participate in this, I think it’s great.” Daria Kasatkina, the highest ranked openly gay player in women’s tennis, Kasatkina ‘assurances’ on Saudi Arabia [The Athletic]

“We in the region are not going to focus only on solving the crisis of the moment, we’re going to look at how we can solve the bigger problem in the context of Gaza. That is, a real commitment to a two-state solution, that is, a credible, irreversible path to a Palestinian state.” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi FM: Commitment to two-state solution only way to prevent Gaza war reoccurring [Arab News]