Gulf governments are stepping up infrastructure deals with foreign investors, with Kuwait set to launch an oil pipeline network stake sale as soon as February in a deal that could raise up to $7 billion, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.
The shift comes as oil prices, down more than 25% in two years, sit below levels needed to fund the Gulf’s diversification plans. Governments are now offering investors access to assets once off limits - from pipelines to power plants - to bring in pension funds, private equity firms and infrastructure specialists.
"The national transformation plans underway in the Gulf are bold and ambitious. It can’t be all funded from within," said Bader Mousa Al-Saif, assistant professor of history at Kuwait University and associate fellow at UK policy institute Chatham House.
"Luring international markets in has been multi-directional and multi-sourced - coming from all parts of the Gulf and using all levers at hand to finance their way through."
For the Kuwait deal, Kuwait Petroleum Corp has hired HSBC alongside JPMorgan and Centerview Partners as advisers, the sources said. HSBC is also arranging so-called "staple financing" which the buyers can use to back their purchase, four sources said, while advisers have begun sounding out investors, three sources said.
Saudi Aramco (2222.SE), opens new tab is also preparing to sell some gas-fired power plants in the coming weeks in a deal expected to raise around $4 billion, according to two sources.
Centerview Partners, JPMorgan and Aramco declined to comment. KPC and HSBC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
MORE DEALS BEING PLANNED
The region could see several more billion dollars worth of infrastructure deals over the next 12 months, said Rajesh Singhi, Standard Chartered's global co-head of M&A advisory.
"We could be looking at a fresh wave of transactions — as additional assets are prepared for market," said Singhi.
The bank advised on Abu Dhabi's 3.8 billion dirhams ($1.03 billion) sale of PAL Cooling Holding last year and is preparing more district cooling assets for sale, Singhi said.
The entry of specialised investors has brought more sophisticated deal structures and new capital sources like pension funds and insurance companies not traditionally seen in the region, Singhi said.
WESTERN FUNDS LOOK EAST
Quebec's Caisse de dépôt, Canada's second-largest pension fund with $290 billion in assets, is seeking new Gulf infrastructure investments beyond its Dubai ports operator DP World stake, said its infrastructure head Rana Karadsheh-Haddad.
"Our current focus is on identifying the right partners who share our long-term outlook and asset-management approach," Karadsheh-Haddad told Reuters.
Investors are increasingly setting up shop locally. Australia's Macquarie Group (MQG.AX), opens new tab is scouting for a Saudi base, while U.S. BlackRock opened a Kuwaiti office last year.
BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners led an $11 billion deal last year for Aramco's midstream assets tied to its Jafurah gas project, potentially the largest shale development outside the U.S.
Besides the gas-fired plants sale, Aramco could divest other assets such as housing, pipelines and port infrastructure, sources have said.
PIPELINE RETURNS ATTRACTIVE
For Gulf state firms, the stake sales allow them to free up capital for expansion and higher‑growth projects while retaining operational control. State oil companies are pursuing these deals despite having access to cheaper debt, partly to diversify funding sources and draw in long‑term institutional investors, sources and analysts have said.
A typical Gulf pipeline transaction gives investors a minority stake in a ring‑fenced entity with long‑term lease payments. Such deals have delivered returns of about 12% to 14% and offer exposure to investment‑grade issuers and stable dollar‑linked cashflows, two sources said.
Kuwait's deal is expected to follow the model used across the region, three sources said, with the government retaining majority ownership and day-to-day control.
The deals are typically structured as U.S. Treasury yield plus the issuer's credit spread plus a premium for the transaction, the sources said.
The model has also created a secondary market: In April 2024, BlackRock and KKR sold their 40% stake in ADNOC Oil Pipelines to Abu Dhabi-based Lunate, with KKR returning to invest in ADNOC’s gas assets less than a year later.
"It is the nature of the financial return that is so attractive; it is the sustainable, close to guaranteed income stream in a world where that's harder to find," said Ben Powell, BlackRock Investment Institute's chief APAC and Middle East strategist.
