Abu Dhabi’s Judan Buys Stake in SpaceX Investor Alpha Wave - Bloomberg
Abu Dhabi’s new $237 billion financial-services holding company Judan is buying a majority stake in Alpha Wave Global, an alternative asset manager that holds stakes in leading artificial intelligence firms including SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI.
Judan will take a 50.1% stake in Alpha Wave and help accelerate the launch of its AI-native life insurance business, the firms said. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but the deal indicates that Gulf investors are continuing their global acquisition spree, despite concerns that the Iran conflict could dent activity.
Alpha Wave, which has about $29 billion of assets under management, operates across private equity, private credit, public markets and insurance. The firm has a longstanding relationship with a subsidiary of Judan called Chimera, and the two had joined forces on a giant tech fund four years ago.
Alpha Wave will continue to operate under its existing leadership team that includes Chief Executive Officer Rick Gerson. The firm employs over 100 professionals across 11 offices worldwide, with a base in Miami, Florida.
It focuses on sectors seen key to Abu Dhabi’s diversification push, including companies that stand to benefit from AI and has an active and dedicated life sciences group.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is a brother of the United Arab Emirates’ ruler and the country’s national security adviser, is driving many of these efforts as chairman of entities including Judan and the $239 billion conglomerate International Holding Co.
IHC created Judan last month, combining businesses spanning banking, insurance, asset management, alternative investments and financial technology under one umbrella. As part of that move, asset managers Chimera Investment and the $115 billion Lunate Capital as well as brokerage International Securities, were folded under Judan.
The move added another investing heavyweight in Abu Dhabi, which is already home to investors that collectively oversee assets worth about $2 trillion. Many of them are prolific dealmakers across a range of sectors, from finance to AI, and have deep ties to the titans of Wall Street.
Monday, 9 March 2026
#Iran War: These #Saudi and #UAE Oil Pipelines Could Decide Who Wins - Bloomberg
Iran War: These Saudi and UAE Oil Pipelines Could Decide Who Wins - Bloomberg
Iran’s strategy in its war with the US and Israel is by now clear: Impose an intolerable economic cost on President Donald Trump, forcing him to abandon his “war of choice” as American gasoline prices surge. Is there any way the Islamic Republic’s blueprint for survival can fail? Yes, if its old regional nemesis, Saudi Arabia, can cushion the oil market.
Enter the East-West pipeline, a 1,200-kilometer (746 mile) conduit crisscrossing the Arabian Peninsula from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. Its raison d’être is to meet this historic moment: Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Saudis built it 45 years ago thinking that, one day, Tehran would manage to do what was then unthinkable and halt shipments through the narrow waterway.
The strait is a choke point for about 20 million barrels a day of crude and refined products — equal to a fifth of global consumption. The Saudi pipeline can’t offset all of that, nowhere near. But it can provide a workaround for as much as 5 million daily barrels. Another pipeline, owned by the United Arab Emirates, offers a separate bypass option to the Gulf of Oman for 1.5 million barrels. In an emergency, the UAE can probably push it close to 2 million1.
So together these pipelines can slow, though not stop, runaway petroleum prices if both countries can get enough tankers into the loading ports where the oil ends up. Right now about 25 supertankers, each capable of loading about 2 million barrels, have diverted from their original destinations and are headed toward the new pickup points. It remains to be seen how the ports will cope with these armadas.
The loss of supply since the first strikes on Iran has been so brutal that oil prices jumped well above $100 a barrel as soon as the energy market opened Sunday night, rising 20% in just a few seconds. But maybe — and I really mean maybe — the pipeline bypasses can delay further gains, buying time for Trump. The White House is still betting all-in that it can finish the war before the petroleum pressure becomes unbearable.
“We figured oil prices would go up, which they will,” Trump told reporters on Saturday night. “They will also come down. They’ll come down very fast. And we will have gotten rid of a major, major cancer on the face of the Earth.”
The strategy appears to have been designed on the fly as the war didn’t go as he planned. To succeed, Trump needs first for the Saudi-UAE bypass pipelines to make a difference. Second, he needs to end the war in days rather than weeks — or at the very least get some supertankers in and out the Strait of Hormuz in that timeframe. The pipelines are only temporary cushions, nothing else. Finally, he needs the region’s oil production, refining and loading facilities to emerge from the war relatively unscathed, allowing for a rapid resumption of exports. All are enormous wagers, now we know the inadequacy of the walk-in-the-park assumptions that Washington made ahead of the war.
On Sunday, state-owned Saudi Aramco was simultaneously loading three very large crude carriers, known as VLCCs in the industry, at its Yanbu and Al Muajjiz terminals on the Red Sea. This is clear evidence that it is diverting as much oil as possible away from the Hormuz route. Adnoc, Abu Dhabi’s state producer, was loading another VLCC at Fujairah, outside the strait. The scale of the operation at these three sites is unprecedented.
Will it work? In real terms, adjusted by the cumulative impact of inflation, oil is still well below previous spikes. The $139-a-barrel reached in March 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine is about $157 in today’s money. The $147.50-a-barrel in July 2008 is equivalent to about $205 a barrel now. Plus the price impact has been short-lived so far, measured in days, rather than months or quarters.
For an oil spike to become a full-blown crisis, the price needs to move higher and stay there for a time. But as the days of bombings and counter-attacks turn into weeks, it will start to hurt the market. The pipeline bypasses buy time, but nothing can replace reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
And there are new dangers. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are walking a security tightrope. Diverting oil via the workaround pipelines is part of their commitment to keep energy markets supplied no matter what. But their actions clearly help Washington and may invite further military retaliation from Tehran. As more tankers head to the new loading points outside the Persian Gulf, there’s nervousness among industry officials in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi that the pipelines, pumping stations or even the ports will be attacked by drones.
Sunni Arab states in the Persian Gulf have long had tense relations with Iran, a Shia-majority country. And yet in recent years Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have sought to improve relations. Before the hostilities, they were eager for Tehran to agree to a diplomatic deal with the US through talks being mediated by Oman.
Oil is dragging them into the conflict, with unknown consequences. Increasingly, the Third Gulf War resembles some episodes of World War II. Think about the Battle of the Atlantic, where Germany tried to cut off Britain’s supply of essential commodities. Now, it’s the Battle of the Pipelines.
Iran’s strategy in its war with the US and Israel is by now clear: Impose an intolerable economic cost on President Donald Trump, forcing him to abandon his “war of choice” as American gasoline prices surge. Is there any way the Islamic Republic’s blueprint for survival can fail? Yes, if its old regional nemesis, Saudi Arabia, can cushion the oil market.
Enter the East-West pipeline, a 1,200-kilometer (746 mile) conduit crisscrossing the Arabian Peninsula from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. Its raison d’être is to meet this historic moment: Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Saudis built it 45 years ago thinking that, one day, Tehran would manage to do what was then unthinkable and halt shipments through the narrow waterway.
The strait is a choke point for about 20 million barrels a day of crude and refined products — equal to a fifth of global consumption. The Saudi pipeline can’t offset all of that, nowhere near. But it can provide a workaround for as much as 5 million daily barrels. Another pipeline, owned by the United Arab Emirates, offers a separate bypass option to the Gulf of Oman for 1.5 million barrels. In an emergency, the UAE can probably push it close to 2 million1.
So together these pipelines can slow, though not stop, runaway petroleum prices if both countries can get enough tankers into the loading ports where the oil ends up. Right now about 25 supertankers, each capable of loading about 2 million barrels, have diverted from their original destinations and are headed toward the new pickup points. It remains to be seen how the ports will cope with these armadas.
The loss of supply since the first strikes on Iran has been so brutal that oil prices jumped well above $100 a barrel as soon as the energy market opened Sunday night, rising 20% in just a few seconds. But maybe — and I really mean maybe — the pipeline bypasses can delay further gains, buying time for Trump. The White House is still betting all-in that it can finish the war before the petroleum pressure becomes unbearable.
“We figured oil prices would go up, which they will,” Trump told reporters on Saturday night. “They will also come down. They’ll come down very fast. And we will have gotten rid of a major, major cancer on the face of the Earth.”
The strategy appears to have been designed on the fly as the war didn’t go as he planned. To succeed, Trump needs first for the Saudi-UAE bypass pipelines to make a difference. Second, he needs to end the war in days rather than weeks — or at the very least get some supertankers in and out the Strait of Hormuz in that timeframe. The pipelines are only temporary cushions, nothing else. Finally, he needs the region’s oil production, refining and loading facilities to emerge from the war relatively unscathed, allowing for a rapid resumption of exports. All are enormous wagers, now we know the inadequacy of the walk-in-the-park assumptions that Washington made ahead of the war.
On Sunday, state-owned Saudi Aramco was simultaneously loading three very large crude carriers, known as VLCCs in the industry, at its Yanbu and Al Muajjiz terminals on the Red Sea. This is clear evidence that it is diverting as much oil as possible away from the Hormuz route. Adnoc, Abu Dhabi’s state producer, was loading another VLCC at Fujairah, outside the strait. The scale of the operation at these three sites is unprecedented.
Will it work? In real terms, adjusted by the cumulative impact of inflation, oil is still well below previous spikes. The $139-a-barrel reached in March 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine is about $157 in today’s money. The $147.50-a-barrel in July 2008 is equivalent to about $205 a barrel now. Plus the price impact has been short-lived so far, measured in days, rather than months or quarters.
For an oil spike to become a full-blown crisis, the price needs to move higher and stay there for a time. But as the days of bombings and counter-attacks turn into weeks, it will start to hurt the market. The pipeline bypasses buy time, but nothing can replace reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
And there are new dangers. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are walking a security tightrope. Diverting oil via the workaround pipelines is part of their commitment to keep energy markets supplied no matter what. But their actions clearly help Washington and may invite further military retaliation from Tehran. As more tankers head to the new loading points outside the Persian Gulf, there’s nervousness among industry officials in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi that the pipelines, pumping stations or even the ports will be attacked by drones.
Sunni Arab states in the Persian Gulf have long had tense relations with Iran, a Shia-majority country. And yet in recent years Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have sought to improve relations. Before the hostilities, they were eager for Tehran to agree to a diplomatic deal with the US through talks being mediated by Oman.
Oil is dragging them into the conflict, with unknown consequences. Increasingly, the Third Gulf War resembles some episodes of World War II. Think about the Battle of the Atlantic, where Germany tried to cut off Britain’s supply of essential commodities. Now, it’s the Battle of the Pipelines.
#Dubai leads Gulf bourses lower; oil leaps on #Iran war | Reuters
Dubai leads Gulf bourses lower; oil leaps on Iran war | Reuters
Most Gulf markets ended lower on Monday, led by sharp losses in Dubai, as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran continued and oil prices jumped more than 11% on supply cuts and fears of prolonged Strait of Hormuz shipping disruptions.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was not interested in negotiations with Iran and suggested the war would end only when Iran no longer had a functioning military or leadership in power.
Further dousing hopes for peace, Iran on Monday named Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader to succeed his father Ali Khamenei, signalling that hardliners continue to dominate power.
Energy markets are particularly nervous because the crisis is unfolding around the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply normally passes.
Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI), opens new tab trimmed early losses to close 2.8% lower, with blue-chip developer Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU), opens new tab falling 4.7% and toll operator Salik (SALIK.DU), opens new tab declining 4.9%.
The index, which resumed trading on Wednesday after a two-day suspension, has fallen more than 11% over four sessions, leaving it down about 5% for the year so far.
Budget airline Air Arabia (AIRA.DU), opens new tab slumped 5%.
In Abu Dhabi, the index (.FTFADGI), opens new tab eased 0.4%, its sixth session of falls, hit by a 4.9% slide in Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB.AD), opens new tab.
The Dubai and Abu Dhabi exchanges last week said they would suspend trading in shares falling 5% or more.
The cost of insuring against default on sovereign debt issued by several countries in the region rose sharply again on Monday.
Bahrain saw its five-year credit default swaps soar by 23 basis points from Friday's close to 281 bps, the highest in more than three years; Egypt's jumped 12 bps, and CDS for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai all gained 4 bps, data from S&P Global Market Intelligence showed.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI), opens new tab fell 1.6%, snapping a five-day winning streak, with Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE), opens new tab losing 3.9% and the country's biggest lender by assets Saudi National Bank (1180.SE), opens new tab decreasing 4.5%.
Budget airline flynas (4264.SE), opens new tab fell 4.4%, while Saudi Aramco rose 0.7% ahead of its annual earnings report due on Tuesday.
Investors are likely to rotate into sectors less exposed to regional tensions, according to Kamco Invest's Junaid Ansari. He said Saudi Arabia remained relatively attractive, with the TASI and Oman's MSM 30 the only markets still in positive territory since the crisis began, helped by Saudi Arabia's lower direct exposure and gains in Aramco.
According to George Pavel, general manager at Naga.com Middle East, Saudi efforts to reroute crude exports via Yanbu eased concerns over Hormuz disruption. The market could see further upside if oil stays elevated and domestic sentiment remains resilient.
The Qatari index (.QSI), opens new tab lost 2.6%, with almost all constituents in negative territory, including the Gulf's biggest lender by assets, Qatar National Bank (QNBK.QA), opens new tab, which fell 2.7%.
Elsewhere, Bahrain's bourse (.BAX), opens new tab declined 1.4%, while Kuwait's (.BKP), opens new tab lost 0.5%, and Oman's (.MSX30), opens new tab advanced 3.1%.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30), opens new tab dropped 0.8%, extending losses from the previous session.
Most Gulf markets ended lower on Monday, led by sharp losses in Dubai, as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran continued and oil prices jumped more than 11% on supply cuts and fears of prolonged Strait of Hormuz shipping disruptions.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was not interested in negotiations with Iran and suggested the war would end only when Iran no longer had a functioning military or leadership in power.
Further dousing hopes for peace, Iran on Monday named Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader to succeed his father Ali Khamenei, signalling that hardliners continue to dominate power.
Energy markets are particularly nervous because the crisis is unfolding around the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply normally passes.
Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI), opens new tab trimmed early losses to close 2.8% lower, with blue-chip developer Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU), opens new tab falling 4.7% and toll operator Salik (SALIK.DU), opens new tab declining 4.9%.
The index, which resumed trading on Wednesday after a two-day suspension, has fallen more than 11% over four sessions, leaving it down about 5% for the year so far.
Budget airline Air Arabia (AIRA.DU), opens new tab slumped 5%.
In Abu Dhabi, the index (.FTFADGI), opens new tab eased 0.4%, its sixth session of falls, hit by a 4.9% slide in Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB.AD), opens new tab.
The Dubai and Abu Dhabi exchanges last week said they would suspend trading in shares falling 5% or more.
The cost of insuring against default on sovereign debt issued by several countries in the region rose sharply again on Monday.
Bahrain saw its five-year credit default swaps soar by 23 basis points from Friday's close to 281 bps, the highest in more than three years; Egypt's jumped 12 bps, and CDS for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai all gained 4 bps, data from S&P Global Market Intelligence showed.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI), opens new tab fell 1.6%, snapping a five-day winning streak, with Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE), opens new tab losing 3.9% and the country's biggest lender by assets Saudi National Bank (1180.SE), opens new tab decreasing 4.5%.
Budget airline flynas (4264.SE), opens new tab fell 4.4%, while Saudi Aramco rose 0.7% ahead of its annual earnings report due on Tuesday.
Investors are likely to rotate into sectors less exposed to regional tensions, according to Kamco Invest's Junaid Ansari. He said Saudi Arabia remained relatively attractive, with the TASI and Oman's MSM 30 the only markets still in positive territory since the crisis began, helped by Saudi Arabia's lower direct exposure and gains in Aramco.
According to George Pavel, general manager at Naga.com Middle East, Saudi efforts to reroute crude exports via Yanbu eased concerns over Hormuz disruption. The market could see further upside if oil stays elevated and domestic sentiment remains resilient.
The Qatari index (.QSI), opens new tab lost 2.6%, with almost all constituents in negative territory, including the Gulf's biggest lender by assets, Qatar National Bank (QNBK.QA), opens new tab, which fell 2.7%.
Elsewhere, Bahrain's bourse (.BAX), opens new tab declined 1.4%, while Kuwait's (.BKP), opens new tab lost 0.5%, and Oman's (.MSX30), opens new tab advanced 3.1%.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30), opens new tab dropped 0.8%, extending losses from the previous session.
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