Hedge Fund King Street Is Said to Seek #SaudiArabia License - Bloomberg

Hedge Fund King Street Is Said to Seek Saudi Arabia License - Bloomberg

King Street Capital Management is planning to build a presence in Saudi Arabia, joining a growing wave of global investors looking to capitalize on the kingdom’s $2 trillion economic transformation plan.

The $28.5 billion alternative asset manager is applying for a license from the Saudi Capital Market Authority that would allow it to operate and manage client funds locally, according to people familiar with the matter who declined to be identified because the information is confidential. King Street invests in credit, real estate and collateralized loan obligations and also runs hedge and drawdown funds.

In August, the firm signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co., a unit of the $940 billion Public Investment Fund, to help banks offload retail mortgages to investors. The deal was aimed at attracting foreign capital to Saudi markets and supporting the kingdom’s Vision 2030 housing goals.

Representatives for King Street and PIF declined to comment. The Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co. did not respond to requests for comment.

The move comes as the kingdom has been encouraging global investors to establish a physical presence in the country or risk losing business with government entities. In May 2024, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. became the first Wall Street bank to secure a regional headquarters license.

Meanwhile, BlackRock Inc. announced it would receive as much as $5 billion from the PIF to invest in the Middle East and build a Riyadh-based investment team. The world’s largest asset manager also received approval to establish a regional headquarters in the Saudi capital and was enlisted to help develop the kingdom’s mortgage-backed securities market.

King Street already maintains a regional presence in Dubai, where its Middle East managing managing director, Reda Zebdi, is based. The emirate and its neighbor Abu Dhabi have drawn marquee firms in recent years including Andurand Capital Management and Brevan Howard Asset Management. The Dubai International Financial Centre alone now hosts more than 70 hedge funds, majority of which manage over $1 billion in assets.

Nvidia Teams Up With G42 for #UAE Data Centers in Mideast AI Push - Bloomberg

Nvidia Teams Up With G42 for UAE Data Centers in Mideast AI Push - Bloomberg

Nvidia Corp. will collaborate with a G42 unit to build data centers powered by its Blackwell chips, a sign of how the United Arab Emirates’ access to the latest generation of semiconductors has improved since US President Donald Trump’s May trip to the Middle East.

Khazna, a data center developer majority-owned by G42, plans to use the chips to develop artificial intelligence clusters of as much as 250 megawatts, Khazna said in a statement Wednesday. Nvidia certified the design of the facilities to support its Blackwell architecture, it said.

G42, an AI company overseen by UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has also partnered with OpenAI in a major overseas expansion of the ChatGPT maker’s Stargate effort to build AI infrastructure. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have made AI data centers central to their economic diversification strategies, setting off an expensive race to build warehouses that store servers and cutting-edge chips.

Trump announced a flurry of AI deals during his May visit to the Middle East, spurring concerns that the projects could put US control over the sophisticated chips used to develop and train models that can mimic human intelligence at risk.

Many of the planned data centers will be built in the joint US-UAE 5-gigawatt cluster planned for Abu Dhabi, Khazna said. The company plans as much as one gigawatt of capacity across the Middle East, Africa and Europe, it added.

Gulf bourses end mixed on US-China trade-talks | Reuters

Gulf bourses end mixed on US-China trade-talks | Reuters

Stock markets in the Gulf ended mixed on Wednesday as there was little progress in U.S.-China trade talks, dashing hopes it would ease long-standing tensions between the world's largest economies.

Top officials of both countries said on Tuesday they agreed on a framework to get their trade truce back on track and remove China's export restrictions on rare earths, while offering little sign of a durable resolution.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI), opens new tab - which traded after a four-session eid break - gave up early gains to finish flat.

Meanwhile, the kingdom's crude oil supply to China is set to dip slightly in July, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing trade sources, but still strong for a third straight month as the OPEC kingpin regains its market share supplying the world's top crude importer.

Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI), opens new tab eased 0.1%, hovering around 17-year high, with top lender Emirates NBD (ENBD.DU), opens new tab losing 2%.

The Dubai stock market remained relatively flat, suggesting potential uncertainty as the market hovers near 17-year highs, which may prompt some investors to engage in profit-taking, said Joseph Dahrieh, Managing Principal at Tickmill.

In Abu Dhabi, the index (.FTFADGI), opens new tab inched 0.1% higher, with ADNOC Gas (ADNOCGAS.AD), opens new tab gaining 1.2%.

ADNOC Gas said on Tuesday it had taken a final investment decision on the first phase of its Rich Gas Development (RGD) Project, awarding $5 billion in contracts to expand and improve efficiency at the project.

The Qatari index (.QSI), opens new tab added 0.2%, with Qatar Gas Transport (QGTS.QA), opens new tab increasing 2.8%.

Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30), opens new tab was up 0.1%, helped by a 2% rise in Commercial International Bank (COMI.CA), opens new tab.