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Saudi ‘Jada’ Plans Attractive Investment Funds in NEOM

Part of the ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative activities in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Part of the ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative activities in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi ‘Jada’ Plans Attractive Investment Funds in NEOM

Part of the ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative activities in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Part of the ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative activities in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia’s Jada Fund of Funds plans launching funds to attract investments in favor of NEOM, revealed Jada CEO Adel Al-Ateeq.

“We are looking to increase the volume of Jada’s investment by more than SAR 4 billion ($1.06 billion),” Al-Ateeq told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Since the beginning of Jada’s launch, we have invested in more than 20 investment funds,” said Al-Ateeq.

“The volume of investment in these funds exceeded SAR2 billion ($533.3 million), distributed among a number of venture capital and private equity funds in the Kingdom,” revealed the CEO.

Al-Ateeq stressed that Jada will continue to invest in venture capital and private equity in the Kingdom. He reaffirmed that the fund would carry on with the momentum it started with three years ago.

He pointed out that Jada’s capital initially amounted to SAR 4 billion ($1.06 billion) but hoped to increase its value in the future.

“We invested SAR 2 billion in 3 years... and I expect to continue at the same level during the next three years... We invested in 20 funds in several companies,” said Al-Ateeq, adding that Jada has capitalized in 350 local and regional companies.

“NEOM is still in the process of being established, and it is working to establish many targeted projects... Therefore, we are looking forward to launching investment funds that will give NEOM a share of its investments when its projects are launched,” revealed Al-Ateeq.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment (MISA) and Jada had formed a partnership to bolster the Kingdom’s start-up and innovation sector and support economic diversification under the ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative.

Jada, owned by the Public Investment fund (PIF), provides funding to start-ups in the Kingdom through commercially sustainable investments in venture capital and private equity funds.

MISA and Jada aim to connect leaders from government agencies, start-up entrepreneurs, investors and leading family business representatives from the Kingdom to participate in roundtable discussions and reinforce the private sector’s impact on the local economy.

The ‘Catalyze Saudi’ initiative is in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 which aims to raise small and medium sized enterprises’ (SMEs) contribution to GDP from 21% to 35% by 2030.

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Asian Stocks Gain after China Teases US Tariff Talks

Asian markets largely rose Friday, tracking Wall Street gains and as China said it was considering a US offer to negotiate steep tariffs. JADE GAO / AFP/File
Asian markets largely rose Friday, tracking Wall Street gains and as China said it was considering a US offer to negotiate steep tariffs. JADE GAO / AFP/File
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Asian Stocks Gain after China Teases US Tariff Talks

Asian markets largely rose Friday, tracking Wall Street gains and as China said it was considering a US offer to negotiate steep tariffs. JADE GAO / AFP/File
Asian markets largely rose Friday, tracking Wall Street gains and as China said it was considering a US offer to negotiate steep tariffs. JADE GAO / AFP/File

Asian markets largely rose Friday, tracking Wall Street gains, as China said it was considering a US offer to negotiate steep tariffs.

US markets forged higher Thursday following strong results from tech giants Microsoft and Meta that helped offset lingering economic worries.

Apple reported first-quarter profit above expectations but warned that US tariffs could cost the company and were disrupting its supply chain.

And Amazon reported a nine percent rise in first-quarter revenue, but its outlook fell as potential impact from the US-China trade war rattled investors.

Washington's punishing levies reached 145 percent on many Chinese products in April, while Beijing has responded with fresh 125 percent duties on imports from the United States.

On Friday, China's commerce ministry said it was evaluating a US offer for negotiations on tariffs, but wanted Washington to show "sincerity" and be ready to scrap levies that have roiled global markets and supply chains.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that China has reached out for talks on the tariffs, and this week said he believed there was a "very good chance we're going to make a deal".

Dozens of countries face a 90-day deadline expiring in July to strike an agreement with Washington and avoid higher, country-specific rates.

Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said Beijing and Washington were now "waving detente flags" in their spiraling trade war.

Beijing's demand for sincerity was an apparent call to ditch the 145 percent rate, before holding serious talks, Innes said in a note Friday.

"But dig a layer deeper, and the path is still littered with landmines," he added.

In Asia trading Friday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up more than one percent in the morning, while Japan's main Nikkei index gained about 0.6 percent.

Japan's envoy for US tariff talks said in Washington on Thursday that a second round of negotiations between the two countries had been "frank and constructive".

Japan, a key US ally and its biggest investor, is subject to the same 10 percent baseline tariffs imposed on most nations plus steeper levies on cars, steel and aluminium.

The Bank of Japan warned earlier that tariffs were fueling global economic uncertainty and revised down its growth forecasts while keeping its key interest rate steady.

Traders are looking ahead Friday to US jobs data for April for indications of the US central bank's path for interest rates.