Latest news with #KingdomHolding
Al Arabiya
21-05-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Saudi airline Flynas draws $109 bln in orders for IPO
Saudi Arabia's Flynas attracted about 410 billion riyals ($109 billion) in orders for its $1.1 billion initial public offering, underscoring strong investor appetite for Middle Eastern listings. The low-cost carrier priced its share sale at 80 riyals apiece, the top of the marketed range, implying a market capitalization of 13.7 billion riyals. The institutional tranche was nearly 100 times oversubscribed on strong local and international demand, according to a statement on Wednesday. With retail orders still to come, the final book is expected to be even larger. Flynas' planned listing on the Riyadh stock exchange will comprise a mix of new shares and stock offered by existing investors including Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's Kingdom Holding Co. and National Flight Services Co. The proceeds are earmarked for fleet expansion and the launch of additional operational hubs. A rebound in global stock prices is luring firms looking to go public off the sidelines after the worst of the tariff-induced market volatility appears to be over. In the Middle East, which has been a hub for new share sales over the past few years, a handful of companies have launched IPOs in recent weeks and garnered strong demand. Saudi hospital operator Specialized Medical Co.'s $500 million IPO sold out in hours, and cardboard manufacturer United Carton Industries Co. drew more than $20 billion in orders. Over in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai Holding attracted $15 billion in orders for the $584 million IPO of its residential real estate investment trust.
Zawya
15-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Kingdom Holding's net profits hike 120% in Q1-25
Riyadh – Kingdom Holding Company witnessed an annual leap of 119.99% in net profit to SAR 431.61 million during the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, compared to SAR 196.19 million. The revenues surged by 31.38% year-on-year (YoY) to SAR 741.50 million in Q1-25 from SAR 564.39 million, according to the financial results. Earnings per share (EPS) climbed to SAR 0.12 as of 31 March 2025 from SAR 0.05 a year earlier. Quarterly, the Q1-25 net profits hiked by 520.88% from SAR 69.51 million in Q4-24, while the revenues jumped by 30.85% from SAR 566.65 million. As of 31 December 2024, Kingdom Holding posted 22.08% YoY higher net profits at SAR 1.23 billion, compared to SAR 1.01 billion. All Rights Reserved - Mubasher Info © 2005 - 2022 Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Saudi Fund Helped Refinance X Debt On Eve Of Musk Visit
Elon Musk talks with Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, as they view view an exhibit in the old district of Diriyah on the outskirts of the Saudi capital Riyadh on May 13, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by) On Monday in Riyadh, at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, Elon Musk announced during a fireside chat with the Kingdom's minister of communications and information technology that Starlink, the satellite internet arm of his rocket company SpaceX, had clinched a deal with Saudi Arabia to offer service to the country's maritime and aviation companies. It was the second Musk venture to do a deal with the Saudis in as many weeks. On April 29, X Corp., Musk's social media company, raised $1.23 billion in fresh debt to refinance part of its existing $12 billion debt load from Musk's leveraged buyout three years ago. One of the firms helping to refinance X's debt was Kingdom Holding Company, the investment firm chaired by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, according to PitchBook. It is not clear how much of the $1.23 billion was financed by Kingdom Holding. A spokesperson for Kingdom Holding declined to comment. X Corp. did not respond to a request for comment. The Saudi company's involvement in the refinancing deal has not previously been reported on. Kingdom Holding has good reasons to help X manage its debt load. The firm is one of the larger minority investors in Musk's xAI Holdings, the recently formed entity that includes X and xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence startup. The Saudi firm rolled over its existing Twitter investment when Musk took the social media platform private in 2022, and then participated in xAI's two $6 billion funding rounds last May and last November. A few days ago, Prince Alwaleed tweeted an AI-generated image of himself watching a chess match between Musk and Trump. Things weren't always so harmonious between Musk and the Saudis. The Kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, PIF, had built a stake in Tesla of nearly 5% in 2018, before Musk falsely tweeted that he had funding secured from the Saudis to take the automaker private. The S.E.C. sued Musk, and Musk said he would 'probably not' take money from the Saudis again following the murder of journalist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudis then reportedly sold off most of their Tesla shares in 2020. The change in tune from both parties reflects a broader embrace of Musk by Gulf investors as the world's richest man has cemented his global influence and political power as one of Donald Trump's closest advisors during his second administration. Plus there is Musk's willingness to tap foreign capital to help finance his growing empire of privately held startups. In addition to receiving backing from the Saudis, Musk has tapped sovereign wealth funds and state-affiliated companies in Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and the U.A.E. over the past year for investments and new deals, including fundraising for xAI, his artificial intelligence startup that aims to compete with OpenAI. Qatar, which is making headlines for its gift of a $400 million airplane to Trump, was early to the Musk party. Its over-$500 billion sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, invested $375 million in Musk's Twitter buyout in 2022. In the last year, the petrostate (population: 3 million) has broadened its embrace. Last summer it opened its first Tesla store and showroom. In October, state-owned Qatar Airways introduced a partnership with Musk's satellite internet provider Starlink to bring wi-fi aboard its commercial airliners. In November, shortly after Trump's election, the sovereign wealth fund invested in xAI's $6 billion fundraising round. In January, the fund announced it would pay Nova Sky Stories, a drone light show company owned by Elon Musk's brother Kimbal, an undisclosed amount to conduct light shows across the country for the next two years. Oman and Kuwait are also backers of Musk's xAI. The Oman Investment Authority, a $50 billion sovereign wealth fund, invested undisclosed amounts in both of xAI's two $6 billion fundraising rounds last year. The Kuwait Investment Authority, a state-backed investment fund with $1 trillion in assets, invested an undisclosed amount in xAI's November fundraising round. The United Arab Emirates and its various state-backed funds do not appear to have backed xAI. However, Alpha Dhabi Holding, an investment holding company with ties to the Abu Dhabi ruling dynasty, invested in SpaceX in May 2022. More recently in February, the U.A.E, announced that Musk's tunnel startup The Boring Company would be building one of its underground loops in Dubai for an undisclosed cost. '[It] is gonna cover Dubai's most densely populated area for people to go for point to point in a seamless manner,' said the U.A.E.'s minister of artificial intelligence in a taped panel discussion in February. The Boring Company's only existing tunnel, in which Teslas ferry people around a conference center in Las Vegas, is beset by trespassers and minimal traffic. Musk is apparently hopeful that the Saudis will also give The Boring Company fresh contracts. During his fireside chat on Monday, when asked about xAI, Musk brought up his company: 'I should mention also, something worth considering is tunnels,' he said. 'I have this company called The Boring Company, which sounds kind of boring, but it literally bores tunnels.' Not surprisingly, all of these business dealings combined with Musk's influence with Donald Trump as his informal advisor and as head of DOGE, pose plenty of concerns about conflicts of interest, according to experts. 'It's nearly impossible to leave certain biases at the door and therefore any advice offered by Musk has to be considered based on his business entanglements,' says Scott Amey, general counsel of the Project On Government Oversight, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. 'This is why we have ethics standards and cooling off periods for government officials. Ignoring those safeguards will result in benefits for those connected and not the public.' Perhaps that is just how Musk wants it.
Business Times
12-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Flynas' US$1.1 billion Saudi Arabia IPO sells out in minutes
[DUBAI] Saudi Arabia's Flynas had demand for all the shares on offer in its US$1.1 billion initial public offering minutes after books opened, indicating continued demand for listings in the kingdom despite market volatility. The low-cost carrier and some of its shareholders are selling a 30 per cent stake – 51.26 million shares – at 76 (S$26.50) to 80 riyals apiece, according to a statement on Monday (May 12). Institutional investors fully covered the order book throughout the price range, according to terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg News. Bookbuilding for institutional investors runs until May 18. The top end of the price range implies a valuation of 13.7 billion riyals (S$4.77 billion). The IPO on the Riyadh exchange includes both newly issued shares and stock sold by existing investors – billionaire Prince Alwaleed Talal's Kingdom Holding and National Flight Services. Proceeds will be used to expand Flynas' fleet and establish new operational hubs. The deal would make Flynas the first Gulf airline to go public in almost two decades, and would precede an expected US$1 billion listing of Abu Dhabi flag carrier Etihad Airways. Several Middle Eastern firms are moving forward with IPO plans despite market volatility sparked by US trade policies. While the region is seen as relatively insulated from tariffs, prolonged low oil prices pose a key risk to growth. A hospital operator and a packaging manufacturer have also launched new share sales in Riyadh in recent weeks, and a tech firm is set to follow suit. In Dubai, a conglomerate owned by the emirate's ruler is planning to list a real estate investment trust amid the city's property boom. Flynas reported revenue of US$2 billion and net profit of US$116 million in 2024. BLOOMBERG
Gulf Business
12-05-2025
- Business
- Gulf Business
Saudi airline flynas launches IPO to raise up to $1.1bn
Image credit: Supplied by flynas Saudi Arabian budget airline Read- The airline, which is selling a 30 per cent stake to investors in the first IPO by a Gulf airline in almost 20 years, said the price range had been set at between SAR76 and SAR80 per share, implying a market capitalisation of up to $3.6bn. Saudi Arabia has targeted tourism as a key pillar of its domestic economic agenda to reduce reliance on oil revenue. The listing would be only the third by a Gulf airline after the United Arab Emirates' Air Arabia and Kuwait's Jazeera Airways. The institutional book-building subscription period, which started on Monday, will close on May 18, flynas said, adding that 34 per cent of net the IPO's net proceeds will be used to finance the airline's growth strategy and for general corporate purposes. Part of the remaining proceeds will be distributed to selling shareholders, which include Kingdom Holding Company, the investment company founded by Prince Al Waleed.
