Monday 24 June 2024

Jain Global Raises $5.3 Billion, Secures Cash From #AbuDhabi - Bloomberg

Bobby Jain Raises $5.3 Billion in Biggest Hedge Fund Debut Since 2018 - Bloomberg

Bobby Jain has gathered $5.3 billion in commitments for his new multistrategy hedge fund, marking the biggest fundraising haul since ExodusPoint Capital Management’s record debut.

The firm won backing from sovereign wealth giant Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and has lined up bank wealth platforms including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc, according to people familiar with the matter. Jain Global will start trading July 1.

The firm also has endowments, foundations, family offices and pensions as investors.

Representatives for Jain Global, ADIA, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. HSBC didn’t reply to a request for comment.

#Kuwait Finance House Said to Weigh Bid for Stake in #Saudi Lender - Bloomberg

Kuwait Finance House Said to Weigh Bid for Stake in Saudi Lender - Bloomberg

Kuwait Finance House KSCP has been exploring the purchase of a significant stake in Saudi Investment Bank as dealmaking activity heats up in the Middle East, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Kuwaiti lender has been studying a potential investment to help bolster its regional presence, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Shares of Saudi Investment Bank are little changed in Riyadh trading this year, giving the company a market value of about $4.3 billion.

Banking consolidation has picked up across the Middle East as lenders have sought to gain more scale in order to better compete with rivals. One of the last major deals also involved KFH, which agreed in 2022 to acquire Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank following nearly four years of negotiations.

Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty they will result in a deal, the people said. Spokespeople for KFH and the Saudi Investment Bank didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Saudi Investment Bank previously counted JPMorgan Chase & Co. as one of its biggest shareholders until the US bank sold off its stake in 2018.

#Saudi milling company Arabian Mills plans to list 30% stake in IPO, CMA says | Reuters

Saudi milling company Arabian Mills plans to list 30% stake in IPO, CMA says | Reuters

Saudi Arabia's Arabian Mills for Food Products is planning to list 15.4 million shares equal to a 30% stake on its local bourse, according to a statement by the Saudi capital markets authority (CMA) on Monday.

Saudi regulator CMA said it had approved the firm's public listing application, adding Arabian Mills would publish the IPO prospectus "within sufficient time prior to the start of the subscription period."

CMA did not provide a timeline for the listing.

Arabian Mills, previously known as Second Milling Company (MC2), has a wheat milling capacity of around 4,920 tons per day through his three branches in Riyadh, Jazan and Hail.

Arabian Mills was part of a wider privatisation programme under Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 aimed at weaning the economy off oil.

It was sold for 2.13 billion riyals ($568 million) in 2021 by the Saudi Grains Organization to a consortium comprising Abdulaziz Al-Ajlan and Bros Sons Company for Trading and Real Estate Investment, Al-Rajhi International Investment Company, Nadec and Olam International Company.

Arabian Mills would add to a string of IPOs in the Gulf country and follow the listing in March of Modern Mills - previously known as MC3 - when the company raised $314.6 million by selling a 30% stake.

Saudi Arabian milling firm MC4 is also looking to go public this year, according to a report.

Most Gulf shares drop, #Qatar extends rally to 15th session

Most Gulf shares drop, Qatar extends rally to 15th session


Most stock markets in the Gulf ended lower on Monday as investors awaited a crucial U.S. inflation reading and comments from Federal Reserve officials this week.

Dubai's benchmark stock index .DFMGI retreated after the previous session's gains, slipping 0.3%. Business park operator Tecom Group TECOM.DU dropped 2.2%, and Dubai Islamic Bank DISB.DU slid 1.7%.

Spinneys 1961 Holding SPINNEYS.DU climbed 3.6% after the grocery retailer opened a store in Saudi Arabia and expected to open 12 more by 2028.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index .TASI was down 0.3% after the previous session's gains, with most sectors in the red. ACWA Power 2082.SE declined 3.6% and Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Services 4013.SE slipped 3.1%.

The Abu Dhabi benchmark index .FTFADGI was up 0.1%, with Multiply Group MULTIPLY.AD rising 4.1% and First Abu Dhabi BankFAB.AD, the UAE's largest lender, climbing 1.4%.

Among other gainers, ADNOC Distribution ADNOCDIST.AD and ADNOC Logistics ADNOCLS.AD added 0.6% and 1.2%, respectively.

Their owner, energy giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), and German chemicals firm Covestro 1COV.DE have entered into concrete negotiations on a potential takeover deal worth 11.7 billion euros.

The Qatari benchmark index .QSI was up 0.6%, extending its gains for a fifteenth session, the longest rally in a year.

Qatar National Bank QNBK.QA, the region's largest lender, added 0.8% and Qatari telecoms group Ooredo ORDS.QA advanced 1.4%.

Nvidia NVDA.O has signed a deal to deploy its artificial intelligence technology at data centres owned by Ooredoo in five Middle Eastern countries.

In the U.S., the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index was due on Friday. A low result would likely reinforce market bets on a Fed rate cut as early as September, which futures currently price as a 65% prospect.

Most Gulf currencies are pegged to the dollar, and any U.S. monetary policy change is usually followed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index .EGX30 snapped a five-session winning streak to fall 0.6%, with most sectors posting losses.

Telecom Egypt ETEL.CA slid 6.6% and El Sewedy Electric SWDY.CA dropped 1.2%. GB Corp GBCO.CA and Misr Fertilizers Production MFPC.CA climbed 6.5% and 3.4%, respectively.

The World Bank announced on Monday $700 million of budget support for Egypt, part of a 3-year, $6 billion programme that the bank pledged earlier this year.


China Lures $2.3 Billion of Middle East Sovereign Money in 2023, HKMA Chief Says - Bloomberg

China Lures $2.3 Billion of Middle East Sovereign Money in 2023, HKMA Chief Says - Bloomberg

About $2.3 billion of Middle East sovereign wealth fund capital flowed into the greater China market last year, Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Kenneth Hui said at a conference on Monday.

The number was up from about $100 million in 2022, external executive director of HKMA Hui said, citing data from Global SWF. Multiple financial institutions and regulators have made trips to the gulf region to engage with the market, which traditionally was served by Europe before, he added.

“This money is important because they often create good demonstrative effect to their local industry and the general public” to tap the Chinese and Hong Kong market, Hui said. “This is the kind of money that we want to see coming in, not just for its own sake, but also for the wider impact.”

Hong Kong has been trying to woo Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries for new funding to revive its stock market. The city saw a collapse in initial public offerings last year, dented by volatile markets and strains between China and the US. IPO proceeds in 2023 were the lowest in more than two decades.

GIP, Snam Said to Mull Exit From $21 Billion Adnoc Gas Pipe Unit - Bloomberg

GIP, Snam Said to Mull Exit From $21 Billion Adnoc Gas Pipe Unit - Bloomberg

Global Infrastructure Partners and Italy’s Snam SpA are considering a potential sale of their stakes in Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s gas pipeline unit, according to people familiar with the matter.

GIP, the biggest foreign shareholder in Adnoc Gas Pipeline Assets LLC, is working with advisers as it prepares to gauge interest in the holding, the people said. Snam, an Italian gas network operator that owns about 6%, has also been weighing an exit, according to the people.

Abu Dhabi investment firm Lunate has reached out to some of Adnoc Gas Pipeline’s key owners to express interest in buying their stakes, the people said. Some of the investors are still deliberating whether to sell their holdings or keep them for longer, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.

GIP led a group of foreign buyers that agreed in 2020 to invest in the pipeline network at a valuation of nearly $21 billion including debt. The consortium — which also included Brookfield Asset Management, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and South Korea’s NH Investment & Securities Co. — bought a 49% stake for about $10.1 billion.

Under the terms of that agreement, the international partners gained an interest in the pipeline assets through a new subsidiary, Adnoc Gas Pipeline, for 20 years with guaranteed minimum returns. Abu Dhabi has also added some local funds into the ownership structure.

Lunate was set up by an arm of Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s listed conglomerate, International Holding Co., and is backed by investors including Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ. The firm, which manages about $105 billion, agreed earlier this year to buy a 40% stake in Adnoc’s oil pipeline network from BlackRock Inc. and KKR & Co.

Deliberations are ongoing, and there’s no certainty they will result in a transaction, the people said. Representatives for Adnoc, GIP, Lunate and Snam declined to comment.

Adnoc nears €14.4bn takeover of Covestro

Adnoc nears €14.4bn takeover of Covestro

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is nearing a €14.4bn agreement to take over the German chemicals group Covestro, setting up the Gulf state-owned energy producer to expand its overseas holdings. 

Covestro has agreed to enter “concrete negotiations” after the UAE’s Adnoc boosted its proposal to €62 per share. Adnoc had previously offered €60 per share. 

The news sent Covestro’s share price 6 per cent higher to €54.52 by early afternoon in Frankfurt on Monday in what would be the largest acquisition in Europe this year and the biggest all-cash deal in the chemicals sector. 

The deal would also represent the first successful takeover of a German Dax 40 company by a Gulf state-owned group. 

The two sides have agreed to conduct confirmatory due diligence, and Covestro said in a statement that it would cancel its capital markets day scheduled for Thursday. 

The two sides have been in talks since the Gulf sovereign wealth fund made an initial informal offer in September 2023.