Gulf

1. PIF to list cybersecurity firm
2. The UAE’s new megalopolis
3. Altérra anchors green fund
4. DP World backs Somaliland
5. Saudi invests in Pakistan
6. Gaming defense pacts

Saudi billionaire preaches parsimony from a private jet.

PIF plans to list cyber firm

Public Investment Fund plans to list its wholly owned cybersecurity firm Saudi Information Technology Co. next year. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund appointed Morgan Stanley and Riyad Capital as advisers for the initial public offering, according to three people familiar with the matter. The listing is part of PIF’s strategy to monetize investments in mature companies it owns and help expand the range of industries represented on the local stock exchange.

PIF and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Riyad Capital didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Saudi Arabia has been among the Gulf’s most active IPO markets as the government looks to privatize state-owned assets and companies seek to tap investor demand. Although the pace has slowed in recent months, the pipeline remains strong.

The kingdom’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund is the main vehicle for delivering Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan for transforming the Saudi economy. A key pillar of the strategy is to build business in new sectors, scale and list them, and recycle the proceeds into new endeavors.

— Matthew Martin

Abu Dhabi to Dubai urbanizes

The otherwise sleepy corridor connecting Abu Dhabi to Dubai is slated for major development, with the potential to create a megalopolis in the coming decades. The UAE capital’s largest logistics firm, AD Ports, has entered a deal worth 2.47 billion dirhams ($672.5 million) with Dubai-based Mira Developments to build a massive mixed-use community, including housing, hotels, golf courses, schools and, of course, a mall.

Today, highway E11 crosses arid farm plots, industrial sites, and not much else. AD Ports’ plan is among several (including the rerlocation of Dubai’s airport) set to transform the 52-mile stretch of highway that connects Yas Island — home to the Formula 1 circuit and the eventual site for Disneyland Abu Dhabi — to Jebel Ali port in Dubai. Construction will take a decade to be completed, AD Ports said.

— Kelsey Warner

Brookfield closes Altérra-anchored fund

The amount Brookfield Asset Management raised, with Abu Dhabi energy transition fund Altérra as an anchor investor, for green investments, oversubscribed due to surging investor interest in clean power for AI. Altérra previously said it would invest $2 billion in Brookfield Global Transition Fund II, and nearly a quarter of the investment will come from Brookfield’s holding company, Brookfield Corp., according to the Financial Times. The fund’s close comes as energy demand is surging globally. “Against this backdrop we need an ‘any and all’ approach to energy investment that will continue to favor low carbon resources,” Brookfield Asset Management’s president said. Renewables surpassed coal as the world’s primary source of electricity in the first half of 2025, according to new data from the energy think tank Ember.

Somaliland wins port giant’s backing

One of the world’s leading ports and logistics firms said it would support Somaliland’s independence, boosting the region’s fledgling campaign to be recognized as an independent state. The remarks from the head of Dubai’s DP World follow support from several senior US politicians for Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but whose claim to sovereignty has not been recognized by any other state. Somaliland’s supporters in Washington cast it as a potential US ally in the Horn of Africa, whereas DP World — which runs a port in Somaliland — made an economic argument for independence, arguing that businesses were interested in the territory’s minerals and agriculture resources, along with being a strategically located transit hub.
— Mohammed Sergie

Pakistan seeks Saudi investment

A Saudi Arabia business delegation is visiting Pakistan this week in a sign that a recently inked mutual defense pact could lead to much deeper trade and commercial links. Pakistan is hoping that the visit will lead to about $1 billion of much-needed investment into its economy, although that may be dependent on the country enacting changes to rules including around the repatriation of profits.

The Saudi-Pakistan defense agreement — announced soon after Israel’s strike on Doha raised questions in the Gulf over the strength of US security guarantees — was a significant upgrade in long-standing ties between the two countries. There was some ambiguity, however, about whether Pakistan was including use of its nuclear weapons in a response to an attack on Riyadh.

View: History’s defense pact lessons

With many defense pacts collapsing under fire this century, Gulf states need to look at lessons from history to reassess how to “maximize the credibility of their security arrangements,” Omar Al-Ubaydli, the director of research at Bahrain’s Derasat, a think tank, writes in a Semafor column.

The credibility of mutual defense “will depend less on paper promises and more on whether allies can lock in coincidental interests, embed real commitments, and remove ambiguity,” Al-Ubaydli wrote. “Only those agreements signed today that bind partners tightly together will deter tomorrow’s aggressors.”

Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran, NYSE President Lynn Martin, Walmart US CEO John Furner, Central Bank Governor of Kenya Dr. Kamau Thugge, Goldman Sachs President John Waldron, and more will join the stage at the Fall Edition of Semafor’s World Economy Summit. Hosted in the Gallup Great Hall and spanning eight sessions over two days, the summit will feature on-the-record interviews on the state of global growth and finance, AI advancements, powering global energy needs, and the forces reshaping the world economy.

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Aviation

• Oman Air has cut a quarter of its workforce and offloaded its A330 fleet as part of a sweeping cost-reduction drive, opting to cooperate with Gulf rivals like Emirates and Qatar Airways through new codeshares rather than compete. The airline says the new model has boosted seat occupancy to 70%. — AGBI

Deals

• UAE-based Emirates Global Aluminium is working on a potential acquisition of Brazil’s Companhia Brasileira de Aluminio as firms from the country increasingly look at international expansion. EGA is also planning a $4 billion aluminum smelter in Oklahoma, and is considering an initial public offering. — Reuters
• Janus Henderson had a first close on its first shariah-compliant private credit fund targeting $300 million — anchored by Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, a joint venture between Mubadala Capital and Alpha Wave Global, and Saudi Arabia’s SVC — as the global asset manager taps a financing gap for small and medium-sized businesses.

Debt

• Public Investment Fund returned to the debt markets to raise €1.65 billion ($1.9 billion) in its first euro-denominated green bond. That follows a $2 billion bond sale last month as the PIF looks to raise money to fund its huge domestic spending commitments and international deals, such as its backing of the $55 billion acquisition of videogame developer Electronic Arts. — Bloomberg

Economy

• The World Bank raised its forecast for Saudi Arabia’s 2025 GDP growth to 3.2%, up from 2.8% in April, citing higher oil output and stronger non-oil expansion led by the services sector. Growth momentum is projected to pick up further in 2026 and 2027. — Arab News

Real Estate

• Bahrain’s Arcapita has launched Lintara Properties, a new arm that will manage and develop industrial and logistics assets across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain. — Saudi Gazette
• Cairo-based Al Ahly Sabbour Developments plans to build a $225 million tower in Muscat, set to be the tallest tower in Oman. The sultanate’s current tallest building stands at 16 stories. — AGBI

Retail

• Saudi Arabia will soon have a Lululemon next to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Majid Al Futtaim