Jonathan Ferziger

Dubai developer Hussain Sajwani sees AI gold in Southeast Asia. The Emirati billionaire’s Damac Group plans to invest about $3 billion through its Edgenex subsidiary to build data centers across Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand over the next three to five years, Bloomberg reports. Damac, which focuses primarily on Dubai real estate, has been diversifying into... Read More

In The Daily Circuit today, we’re at the Milken Institute’s Middle East and Africa Summit, where a line-up of investment bankers, hedge fund managers and government ministers are pondering the fate of the earth. We’re also looking at Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim’s visit to 10 Downing Street, an acquisition from Airbus by the Public Investment... Read More

Apple is making plans to expand in Saudi Arabia. The world’s largest tech hardware company announced on Sunday that it will launch an online store in the summer of 2025, followed by the opening of several Apple Stores in 2026, with a flagship location in the Riyadh historic section of Diriyah. The company said it... Read More

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is making the rounds in the Gulf, consulting with leaders in the UAE and Saudi Arabia about trade and the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape. After being greeted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Starmer told reporters his main focus was on business between the two countries, The... Read More

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund concluded its yearlong quest to buy a chunk of London’s Heathrow Airport, joining an ownership group that includes the sovereign wealth funds of Qatar and Singapore. The PIF will own a 15% stake in FGP TopCo, the holding company that controls Europe’s busiest airport, after the deal was finalized on Thursday.... Read More

Dubai’s benchmark stock index soared today to its highest in nearly 10 years amid expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this week. The Dubai Financial Market’s General Index jumped 3.7% in morning trading to reach 5,010, led by Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest bank, which rose 8%. The Fed’s decisions affect monetary policy in... Read More

Dubai’s property boom prompted Emaar, the city’s largest publicly traded developer, to provide shareholders with a big return. The move sent its stock soaring on Monday to a 17-year high. The company, founded by Mohamed Alabbar, announced on Friday that it would declare dividends at 100% of its share capital starting with 2024 and continuing for the... Read More

👋 Hello from the Middle East! In today’s Daily Circuit, we’re looking at Space42’s new $5.1 billion satellite contract, an Egyptian-Gulf alliance to develop the Nile Delta region, Saudi Global Ports’ selection of bankers for its upcoming IPO and ADNOC’s LNG supply deal with Germany’s EnBW. But first, real estate stocks are jumping in Dubai.... Read More

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates set off a chain reaction of parallel reductions in the Middle East. Central banks in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman, which have currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar, chopped their own borrowing rates today by 0.25% in tandem with the Fed, Reuters reports. Qatar cut its three main interest rates... Read More

As 2024 careens to its close – with financial markets jumping even as geopolitical conflicts multiply – Gulf sovereign wealth funds continue to pile up assets. Leading the way has been ADIA, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which entered the elite $1 trillion club this year with assets reaching $1.06 trillion – trailing only Norway and China –... Read More