Saudi Arabia

UFC’s Saudi challenge may be less than a body blow

22 Sep 2023

After its WWE merger, the mixed martial arts promoter’s $15 bln parent TKO faces a smack from Saudi-backed PFL. But the latter is targeted more at non-US fans, a lesser market for UFC. Saudi may also struggle to scale up enough to deliver the knockout blow it managed with golf.

Oil spike offers only a brief boon for Fed and MbS

21 Sep 2023

Crude prices are up 25% since July, swelling the Saudi crown prince’s budget. Fed boss Jay Powell wins too: he can use it to justify inflation-busting high rates. Yet long-term, a surfeit of energy demand over supply will complicate life for both central bankers and oil tsars.

Saudi’s $700 bln PIF is odd sort of sovereign fund

21 Sep 2023

Hyperactive transactions, erratic funding and an unusual asset mix set the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund apart from more cautious state-run investors. As Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tries to reach $2 trln by 2030, the PIF will keep making headlines – both good and bad.

Saudi binge is fiscal free kick for European clubs

18 Aug 2023

The Kingdom’s top league has spent some 600 mln euros this year buying star soccer players, like striker Neymar. The boom in transfers helps Europe’s teams meet new wage rules. It could be an own goal, but Saudi’s dream of becoming a football powerhouse looks like a distant risk.

Saudi pays rich but logical price for Vale metals

28 Jul 2023

The kingdom is buying one-tenth of the $66 bln Brazilian miner’s nickel and copper arm. The $26 bln valuation on Vale’s base metals unit is steep, but cheaper than a full takeover. It also acts as a down payment on Saudi’s efforts to become an energy transition industrial hub.

Saudi Mbappé bid even less rational than it looks

25 Jul 2023

State-owned Al Hilal offered $1.1 bln in fees and pay for soccer star Kylian Mbappé, reports say. Spain’s LaLiga gets less in international broadcast revenue a year. Saudi’s nascent league would gain, but the data doesn’t suggest either it or “sportswashing” overall will work.

BlackRock’s Aramco embrace makes sense in a vacuum

18 Jul 2023

The $109 bln asset manager added the state-owned Saudi oil giant’s CEO Amin Nasser to its board. BlackRock boss Larry Fink may invite a political firestorm at home, but he needs a competitive advantage. Diversity of opinion helps, as does the ability to unlock new investments.

Saudi oil cuts collide with investor scepticism

8 Jun 2023

The Gulf state is slashing oil production in July and convinced OPEC+ to extend cuts to the end of 2024. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists explain how these restrictions may still not be enough to convince investors to stop worrying about recession.

Golf’s Saudi surrender is par for the course

7 Jun 2023

The sport’s main US and European tours are linking their commercial arms with Riyadh-run LIV Golf. Saudi gets the smaller stake despite being the only partner to put in cash. But as it has shown by splashing out on other sports, the chance to polish its image is more valuable.

Saudi’s oil lollipop reflects its sticky situation

5 Jun 2023

The kingdom has secured OPEC+ consent to extend output cuts into 2024, and will also lop another 1 mln barrels off its own daily production. But if traders bought OPEC’s demand forecasts, oil prices should be higher anyway. Saudi may also struggle to slash output any further.

Saudi is far from the last Western bank bagholder

21 Mar 2023

Credit Suisse’s rescue by UBS will cost top shareholder Saudi National Bank over $1 bln. Abu Dhabi’s ADIA and Singapore’s GIC and Temasek also caught a falling knife after buying Western banks in 2007. Politics, and the Gulf’s growing oil riches, imply further loss-making punts.

Interlopers may yet crash the Gulf bank fee party

22 Dec 2022

The Middle East is one of the globe’s few healthy IPO markets. To relative outsiders like Barclays, it may look like big U.S. and domestic banks will grab the best mandates. Yet Saudi Arabia’s insistence that foreign banks base themselves in Riyadh presents an opportunity.

Gulf’s World Cup love-in has uncertain shelf life

25 Nov 2022

Egypt and Turkey used the tournament to smooth over old differences, and ex-rivals Saudi Arabia and Qatar are getting along. Riyadh may even use its new oil heft to put $5 bln in cash-strapped Ankara’s central bank. The risk is new tensions, perhaps over Iran, upend the goodwill.

Saudi Credit Suisse deal is fair Buffett imitation

2 Nov 2022

The kingdom’s biggest lender is ponying up $1.4 bln to help the weak bank raise capital. It’s not getting the sweet terms the Sage of Omaha extracted from Goldman in 2008 but the returns are still in his ballpark. And if Credit Suisse struggles, a breakup may limit the downside.

Sovereign debt greens yet net-zero pledges darken

13 Oct 2022

Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund is the latest public body to issue securities to fund renewable assets. Strong buyer demand and the chance to flaunt action on climate change explain the boom. Yet national decarbonisation targets remain weak, and green bonds do little to improve them.

There’s method to Saudi’s $38 bln gaming madness

11 Oct 2022

Riyadh says it will splash out to become “the ultimate global hub” for gaming by 2030. Saudi and the freewheeling sector are peculiar bedfellows. But with a petrodollar windfall and falling valuations, the kingdom has a good opportunity to make its unlikely vision happen.

Petrodollar rush may disappoint Western financiers

20 Sep 2022

In prior energy booms, like in the 1970s, the proceeds wound up in U.S. banks and bonds. OPEC’s $907 bln haul in 2022 is smaller, and winners like Saudi Arabia need cash to pivot away from oil. Bankers may not see a developed world equities and debt bonanza on the same scale.

Saudi can win two ways in global energy reshuffle

13 Jul 2022

U.S. President Joe Biden will plead for more oil on his visit to the kingdom. Riyadh may be tempted to say no. But with China and India buying cheaper Russian crude, diverting shipments could boost selling prices. Close ties could also unlock more western capital for Saudi.

LIV Golf finds that Saudi money can’t buy love

23 Jun 2022

The rebel league is Riyadh’s latest PR pitch to the global business crowd. Fairways lined with gold have managed to hook a handful of names. But a lack of major broadcast deals and top drawcards like Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy means LIV is likely to miss the financial cut.

Western bankers’ long wait for Gulf gold pays off

20 Jun 2022

Not long ago, U.S. and European lenders’ Middle East jobs meant low-paid work and no play. Now, oil-funded deal flow in Riyadh and Dubai is robust even as it falls elsewhere. That’s a boon for the likes of JPMorgan and Citi, who stuck it out and are now boosting their teams.