Barclays Re-Enters #SaudiArabia 11 Years After Exiting Business - Bloomberg

Barclays Re-Enters Saudi Arabia 11 Years After Exiting Business - Bloomberg

Barclays Plc is re-entering Saudi Arabia, becoming the latest bank to beef up operations in the oil-rich kingdom that’s in the midst of a trillion-dollar economic transformation plan.

The London-based lender is in the process of securing a license to conduct investment banking activities in the country, and plans to open an office in Riyadh next year as part of that push.

“We are establishing our regional headquarters, we are in the process of getting all the appropriate banking and other licenses,” Chief Executive Officer C.S. Venkatakrishnan said in an interview on Bloomberg TV from Riyadh, where he’s attending the kingdom’s flagship annual Future Investment Initiative summit.

“The office will be in the financial district and we’re getting enough to have a good sized office,” he said. “We will build it up as we get the licenses.”

The move to re-enter Saudi Arabia comes more than a decade after Barclays pulled out of the country under then CEO Antony Jenkins, who sought to rein in the global ambitions of the company’s investment bank in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Barclays Saudi Arabia canceled its license to conduct securities business in 2014 as international lenders struggled to compete with local rivals, Bloomberg News reported at the time.

Twelve years on, Barclays and many of its peers have been lured back to the kingdom as it prepares to pour billions more into areas like artificial intelligence, gaming and high-tech manufacturing and races to diversify its oil-reliant economy.

“We are there to provide the connection with the rest of the world, bring in direct investment and liquidity,” Venkatakrishnan said. Investment flows used to head out of the region into Europe and the US, and “now there’s a lot coming back,” he added. “I think that’s the part where we can help.”

For now, the bank has hired Mohammed Abdulaziz AlSarhan, the chairman of local shipping and logistics company Bahri, to help lead the effort, according to a person familiar with the matter. Barclays declined to comment on the appointment.

With its regional headquarters license in Saudi Arabia, Barclays is following in the footsteps of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Authorities in the kingdom have been putting pressure on international firms to establish their Middle Eastern headquarters in Riyadh, warning companies would risk losing business with state entities if they didn’t comply.

While the new effort will re-establish its physical presence in Saudi Arabia, Barclays has continued working on investment banking deals in the kingdom. Most recently, it advised the country’s sovereign wealth fund on its debut green bond.

The bank this year elevated two senior leaders, Khaled El Dabag and Walid Mezher, to oversee its growing business in the Middle East. The two continue to be based in Dubai but now report to Stephen Dainton, head of investment bank management.

With the move, Barclays effectively put the Middle East on par with its other main regions around the world, which already have local CEOs that report to Dainton.

Gulf markets mixed on easing US-China trade tensions, tepid earnings | Reuters

Gulf markets mixed on easing US-China trade tensions, tepid earnings  | Reuters

Gulf stock markets ended mixed on Monday, as indications of easing U.S.-China trade tensions that supported risk sentiment coincided with corporate earnings reports that provided limited uplift to investor confidence and weak oil prices.

Top Chinese and U.S. economic officials hashed out the framework of a deal for U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to decide on later this week, easing fears that tariffs and export curbs between the world's top two oil consumers could dent global growth.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI), opens new tab gained 0.2%, with Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE), opens new tab 1.8%. Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) (1050.SE), opens new tab climbed 1.7%, snapping four sessions of losses.

However, Mobile Telecommunication Company Saudi Arabia (7030.SE), opens new tab, popularly known as Zain Saudi, declined 1.6%, following a 2% increase in third-quarter profit.

Abu Dhabi's index (.FTFADGI), opens new tab gave up early gains to close 0.1% higher.

Oil prices - a catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - edged lower and fell over 1% earlier in the session, amid scepticism that a U.S.-Chinese trade deal framework would boost oil demand and after Iraq's oil minister confirmed an oilfield fire had not affected the OPEC member's oil exports.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut rates by a quarter percentage point at its meeting on Wednesday, a view supported by Friday's softer-than-expected inflation report.

Most Gulf Cooperation Council countries have their currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar, exposing the region to the direct impact of monetary tightening in the world's largest economy.

Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI), opens new tab declined 0.4%, after a 1.6% fall in Emirates NBD Bank (ENBD.DU), opens new tab.

Qatari index (.QSI), opens new tab lost 0.2%, following a 2.1% slide in Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC.QA), opens new tab after its nine-month net profit drop.

Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30), opens new tab was up 0.2%, with Talaat Moustafa Group Holding (TMGH.CA), opens new tab rising 1.6%.

Goldman Vies for $10 Billion From #Kuwait in Private Funds Push - Bloomberg

Goldman Vies for $10 Billion From Kuwait in Private Funds Push - Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is jockeying for a $10 billion mandate for its asset-management arm from Kuwait’s wealth fund, as part of the Wall Street bank’s efforts to bolster its private markets strategy and compete with larger players in the Middle East.

The firm has been in talks with the Kuwait Investment Authority to receive the money over the coming years and across multiple funds, according to people familiar with the matter. The capital is likely to be allocated largely toward Goldman’s private equity, credit and infrastructure funds, some of the people said.

Representatives for the KIA and Goldman declined to comment.

The arrangement has developed as part of Goldman’s push into the oil-rich Gulf nation, where the New York-headquartered investment bank opened an office earlier in October. Still, there’s no guarantee KIA will fulfill the entire investment.

Along with Chief Executive Officer David Solomon, the office opening was attended by Marc Nachmann, the global head of the firm’s asset and wealth division. Nachmann is trying in particular to grow private assets under supervision, which stand at $374 billion, according to Goldman’s third-quarter earnings.

Like other finance giants, the bank has been ramping up its presence in the Middle East with an eye on the region’s sovereign investors that control assets worth trillions of dollars, though it’s not always an easy sell.

While the potential investment is a footnote for KIA that has about $1 trillion in assets, the deal could be significant for Goldman, which faces stiff competition from larger private markets players like KKR & Co, Blackstone Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc. in growing its footprint in the Middle East.

Other major investment firms such as Carlyle Group Inc., Franklin Templeton and State Street Corp. are also looking to set up offices in Kuwait, Bloomberg News has reported. That follows BlackRock Inc.’s decision to open up in the country and would be a boost to the city-state’s efforts to deepen its financial sector, which has lagged behind Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.

Many of the firms already count Kuwait as a client, and a physical presence would allow them to further strengthen ties with the government and its wealth fund. Some of those relationships were on display recently, when Goldman helped manage Kuwait’s first international bond sale in eight years.

Goldman opened an Abu Dhabi office in 2023, and was the first bulge-bracket bank to get a regional headquarters license in Saudi Arabia. Finance chiefs from around the world are assembling in Riyadh this week, where Solomon is among executives scheduled to speak at a conference hosted by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Property Giant Hines to Expand into Booming #Saudi Arabian Market - Bloomberg

Property Giant Hines to Expand into Booming Saudi Arabian Market - Bloomberg

Real estate giant Hines plans to expand into Saudi Arabia next year, aiming to tap one of the Middle East’s busiest development and construction markets.

The Houston-based developer and investment manager, which oversees about $92 billion in assets, is recruiting staff for a new Riyadh office and relocating executives to the kingdom, the company said in a statement to Bloomberg News. Hines will focus on industrial, office and mixed-use projects.

Saudi Arabia has introduced a series of measures to cool surging property prices and spur construction of homes, offices, hotels and logistics facilities. The government has quadrupled the tax on vacant land in high priority areas to 10% of its value each year, encouraging owners to build or sell. Riyadh has also imposed a five-year rent freeze to keep housing affordable for citizens and new residents who are moving to the kingdom.

Together, these steps are expected to boost the supply of land — creating new opportunities for Hines and its peers to invest, develop and manage real estate assets in the kingdom.

“Establishing a stronger presence in the region allows us to bring our global expertise in placemaking, sustainable value creation and innovation to projects that will deliver lasting impact,” said Laura Hines-Pierce, the firm’s co-chief executive officer.

Steve Luthman, Hines’ global head of real estate, will lead the company’s operations across the Middle East, while global Chief Investment Officer David Steinbach will continue to oversee investment activity, the firm said.

The Saudi expansion builds on Hines’ existing presence in Dubai, where it opened an office in 2020 just as the city turned the page on a seven-year property slump and started what became one of its longest running rallies.

That rebound has attracted a wave of institutional investors, from Brookfield Corp. to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Asia-based Hillhouse Investment. Others are scouting deals across the Gulf. Mapletree Investments Pte, owned by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte, opened an Abu Dhabi office to expand its global property footprint in the region.

The late Texas billionaire Gerald Hines founded his eponymous firm in 1957 and earned a reputation as one of world’s top developers, constructing eye-catching structures such as the Lipstick Building in Manhattan as well as skyscrapers that transformed Houston’s skyline in the 1970s and 1980s.