News

Abu Dhabi / WAM GCC-based venture capital firm VentureSouq (VSQ) announced the launch of its Mena fintech fund, the region’s first sector specific fund focused on FinTech across the Middle East & North Africa (Mena) region and Pakistan. The $50 million VentureSouq fund invests in early-stage fintech and SaaS companies and focuses on key subsectors including payments infrastructure, alternative credit, …

Bloomberg Oil logged its biggest weekly drop since August as Europe’s worsening Covid-19 crisis renewed the prospect of lockdowns just as key consuming nations look to add emergency supply to the market. West Texas Intermediate for January delivery tumbled 3.2%, while the expiring December contract lost 3.7%. Europe’s Brent skidded 2.9%. The wave of infections in Europe is growing, once …

Bloomberg Global initial public offerings (IPOs) have smashed their previous record this year, propelled by a blank-check boom and companies cashing in on high valuations. With six weeks to go, about 2,850 businesses and special purpose acquisition (SPAC) companies have raised more than $600 billion in IPOs, leaving the records for both deal count and proceeds reached in 2007 in …

DUBAI / WAM The Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) and G42 have announced a partnership to explore the latest trends and opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics and cloud computing to accelerate the digitisation of manufacturing processes and drive supply chain improvements. Through this partnership, GMIS and G42 will promote the adoption of disruptive technologies to solve some …

MANAMA / WAM Investcorp, a Bahrain-based asset manager which counts Mubadala Investment Company as its biggest shareholder, announced that it has completed the acquisition of ten UK industrial assets, comprising c. 660,000 sq ft, via four transactions for a combined purchase price of €56.7 million. Since launching its European real estate business in 2017, Investcorp has invested approximately €1 billion …

Bloomberg China posted a record monthly trade surplus in October as exports surged despite global supply-chain disruptions. Exports rise 27.1% in dollar terms last month from a year earlier to $300.2 billion, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Sunday. That was the 13th straight month of double digit growth, and exceeded economists’ expectations of a 22.8% gain. …

Bloomberg Saudi Aramco’s earnings soared as oil prices and production climbed, allowing the world’s biggest crude producer to cover its quarterly dividend of $18.75 billion with free cash flow. Third-quarter profit rises to 114.1 billion riyals ($30.4 billion) from 44.2 billion riyals year ago, beating a company-compiled estimate of $29.1 billion. Free cash flow was $28.7 billion. Aramco has benefited …

Bloomberg The US and the European Union (EU) clinched a tariff-busting trade accord over the weekend that they’ll try to leverage into a broader global arrangement that would penalise countries that don’t meet low-carbon targets for steel and aluminum exports. President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the agreement on Sunday in Rome on the …

Bloomberg Oil posted a monthly gain of 11% on signs that consumption is outpacing supply and draining stockpiles. Futures in New York rise 0.9%. Oil’s advance this month shows the impact of an ongoing shortage of natural gas, which has boosted demand for oil products. At the same time, rising margins signal that crude consumption will remain strong as refiners …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia said it would use one of the world’s biggest natural-gas projects to make blue hydrogen, as the kingdom steps up efforts to export a fuel seen as crucial to the green-energy transition. A large portion of gas from the $110 billion Jafurah development will be used for blue hydrogen, according to Energy Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin …