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(Bloomberg) -- A Gulf venture capital firm created a year ago has raised $75 million to deploy in startups across the Middle East, as rich Saudi companies and families seek to monetize on the boom in technology firms. The appetite for tech firms has been increasing among Gulf investors as governments in the region step up efforts to steer their economies away from oil. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Gulf Arab states lost up to 4% of their population last year in an "exodus" of expatriate workers that could complicate the diversification of the region's economies, S&P Global Ratings warned in a report. Expats make up almost 90% of the region's private-sector workforce, according to S&P. The energy-reliant economies in the region sank into a recession last year following the shocks of lower oil prices and the global health emergency, forcing many expats whose residency visas were linked to jobs to head home. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- S&P Global Ratings said Gulf Arab economies suffered population losses as a result of an "exodus" of expatriate workers, warning the outflow could complicate their diversification in the long run. The share of foreigners relative to citizens is set to drop through 2023 "because of subdued non-oil sector growth and workforce nationalization policies", S&P credit analysts led by Zahabia Gupta said. "GCC countries' productivity, income levels, and economic diversification may stagnate in the long term without significant investment in the human capital of the national population and improvements in labor market flexibility", they said. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson named Edward Lister, one of his longest serving advisers, as his new special envoy for the Gulf and special projects. Lister, who will take up his appointment on February 22, will report to the prime minister and work closely with the foreign secretary, secretary of state for international trade and the national security adviser. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are holding out the possibility of better ties with Turkey that could benefit trade and security in a volatile region, according to people familiar with the strategy. Turkey's foreign minister said Ankara had been talking directly with both Gulf nations but dismissed the idea of a quick deal, saying the UAE should abandon policies that run counter to Turkey's interests. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are holding out the possibility of better ties with Turkey that could benefit trade and security in a volatile region, according to people familiar with the strategy. Turkey's foreign minister said Ankara had been talking directly with both Gulf nations but dismissed the idea of a quick deal, saying the UAE should abandon policies that run counter to Turkey's interests. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- The business cycle in Gulf countries in likely to take "several quarters at least to fully recover" from twin shocks of the coronavirus pandemic and the drop in oil prices, according to S&P Global Ratings. The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- The sale by Saudi Arabia's biggest bank of a high-risk type of bond -- at better rates than larger international peers -- is spurring concerns that investors are mispricing risk amid booming global valuations. National Commercial Bank last month issued Additional Tier 1 notes at 3.5%, the lowest yield yet for the instrument from the region. "Investors in the AT1 sukuk have opted for an inefficient risk-return payoff -- a lower yield at the same risk", he said. [Extracted from the article]

Most Middle East stocks fell, with shares in Dubai leading losses in the Gulf, as increased travel restrictions added to pessimism over vaccine rollouts sweeping global equity markets. Shares in Dubai had been recovering from a virus-triggered selloff amid prospects of a pick-up in tourism, one of the main pillars of the emirate's economy. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Perella Weinberg Partners LP's Middle East team of bankers left to start its own advisory firm in Dubai to get a slice of the buoyant market for deals and restructurings in the region. Second Act In setting up their own shop, Anabtawi and Akhrass are treading the path pursued by other investment bankers in the Gulf who bet they could win mandates on deals that bulge-bracket firms will pass on. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Perella Weinberg Partners LP's Middle East team of bankers left to start its own advisory firm in Dubai to get a slice of the buoyant market for deals and restructurings in the region. Second Act In setting up their own shop, Anabtawi and Akhrass are treading the path pursued by other investment bankers in the Gulf who bet they could win mandates on deals that bulge-bracket firms will pass on. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Israel has agreed to let the U.S. deploy Israeli-made Iron Dome missile defense systems in its military bases in the Persian Gulf, Europe, and elsewhere in Asia, the Haaretz newspaper reported. The U.S. will deploy batteries in eastern Europe out of concern Russia could try to attack U.S. forces or strategic infrastructure in those countries, the Israeli officials said. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Major airlines in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar will restart cross-border flights next week for the first time in more than three years, as the UAE warmed to an agreement ending a diplomatic and trade rift that divided the energy-rich Gulf region. Sharjah-based Air Arabia PJSC earlier this month became the first UAE airline to resume flights to Doha. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- The world's biggest restructuring firms are boosting their presence in the Gulf region, anticipating a spate of turnaround work as companies succumb to the coronavirus pandemic after years of economic pain. Insolvency regimes that have emerged as a result are increasingly used by large companies that run into trouble, such as hospital operator NMC Health Plc or construction company Arabtec Holding PJSC. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- The world's biggest restructuring firms are boosting their presence in the Gulf region, anticipating a spate of turnaround work as companies succumb to the coronavirus pandemic after years of economic pain. Insolvency regimes that have emerged as a result are increasingly used by large companies that run into trouble, such as hospital operator NMC Health Plc or construction company Arabtec Holding PJSC. Covid has given companies in the region another reason for hiring restructuring specialists at an earlier stage for help with strategy or cost cutting before they enter a distressed debt situation. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Qatar has urged Gulf Arab nations to enter a dialog with Iran, saying the time was right for Doha to broker negotiations now the neighbors have begun to patch up their own differences. Qatar recently mended a rift with Gulf Arab neighbors that had festered for more than three years and centered on accusations that it was bankrolling militant groups and undermining attempts to isolate Iran, whose regional influence and nuclear ambitions they fear. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Qatar has urged Gulf Arab nations to enter a dialog with Iran, saying the time was right for Doha to broker negotiations now the neighbors have begun to patch up their own differences. Qatar recently mended a rift with Gulf Arab neighbors that had festered for more than three years and centered on accusations that it was bankrolling militant groups and undermining attempts to isolate Iran, whose regional influence and nuclear ambitions they fear. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- The end of an embargo on Qatar has come at a handy time for the Gulf's biggest equity-focused exchange traded fund, just as the gas-rich country is set to get a boost from hosting one of the world's most popular events. The fund started less than a year after the group of Arab countries cut ties with Qatar for allegedly supporting terrorist groups, an accusation Qatar has always denied. Read more: The UAE And Qatar Are More Alike Than Apart: Amr Adly (Adds stock performance in Doha this year in seventh paragraph.). [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Iran will start a new round of military exercises on its southern Gulf of Oman coast, in its latest show of force against the U.S. as Joe Biden prepares to enter the White House. Iran has struck back by accelerating its atomic activities, carrying out weekly military drills and passing a law that in effect enforces a deadline on the Biden government to start lifting Trump-era sanctions. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- The end of an embargo on Qatar has come at a handy time for the Gulf's biggest equity-focused exchange traded fund, just as the gas-rich country is set to get a boost from hosting one of the world's most popular events. The fund started less than a year after the group of Arab countries cut ties with Qatar for allegedly supporting terrorist groups, an accusation Qatar has always denied. There are three equity-focused ETFs listed in Saudi Arabia and one in the UAE, all with less than $20 million in assets. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- EgyptAir will resume flights to Qatar after a three-year dispute that pitted the gas-rich emirate against other Gulf nations and Egypt ended last week. The carrier plans a daily flight to Qatar and may add a second if there's demand, EgyptAir Holding Co.'s chairman, Roshdy Zakaria, said Tuesday by text message. [Extracted from the article]

Gulf states expect to open their airspace to Qatar and resume trade with the natural-gas powerhouse within a week of the Jan. 5 signing of an accord ending their rift, a senior United Arab Emirates minister said Thursday. Qatar had increasingly turned to Iran and Turkey -- another regional rival of Saudi Arabia and the UAE -- for support, relying on Iranian airspace for overflights. [Extracted from the article]

Gulf states expect to open their airspace to Qatar and resume trade with the natural-gas powerhouse within a week of the Jan. 5 signing of an accord ending their rift, a senior United Arab Emirates minister said Thursday. Under the accord, four Arab states including the UAE agreed to fully restore ties with Qatar, ending a three-year dispute that divided the energy-producing region at a time of heightened tensions over Iran. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia and three other Arab states agreed to fully restore ties with neighboring Qatar on Tuesday after a sustained U.S. push for the countries to unite against Iran. Qatar had increasingly turned to Iran and Turkey -- another regional rival of Saudi Arabia and the UAE -- for support, relying on Iranian airspace for overflights. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia and three other Arab states agreed to fully restore ties with neighboring Qatar on Tuesday after a sustained U.S. push for the countries to unite against Iran. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia and three other Arab states agreed to fully restore ties with neighboring Qatar on Tuesday after a sustained U.S. push for the countries to unite against Iran. Qatar had increasingly turned to Iran and Turkey -- another regional rival of Saudi Arabia and the UAE -- for support, relying on Iranian airspace for overflights. [Extracted from the article]

Saudi Arabia's Rotana Media Group deleted a hate song against Qatar from YouTube, as the countries eased a three-year regional rift. The song, "Teach Qatar", is meant to instruct gas-rich Qatar about the purported error of its ways and the reasons four Arab states chose to boycott it. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Qatar's ruler landed in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to a warm embrace from host Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, hours after their nations re-established travel ties and eased a longstanding regional dispute. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Qatar's benchmark stock index rose the most in the Middle East on signs of an easing a dispute that split the Gulf region for three years. Elsewhere in the Gulf, Dubai's main index climbed 1.2% for the session, while Abu Dhabi's ADX index rose 0.6%. [Extracted from the article]

Saudi Arabia deleted a hate song against Qatar from YouTube, as the countries prepare to sign a breakthrough agreement aimed at easing a three-year regional rift. Rotana Media Group removed it from its YouTube channel after Saudi Arabia reopened its air, land and sea borders with Qatar on Monday, easing a crisis that complicated U.S. efforts to isolate Iran. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Qatar's ruler landed in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to a warm embrace from host Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, hours after their nations re-established travel ties and eased a regional dispute. Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, received Sheikh Tamim at the airport in the northwestern desert city of Al Ula, wearing a formal black and gold robe. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Iran seized a South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz hours and announced it would increase its nuclear activities, as tensions in the region mount in the final days of Donald Trump's U.S. presidency. Iran detained the U.K.-flagged tanker Stena Impero for more than two months at Bandar Abbas in mid-2019 in retaliation for the arrest of one of its ships off Gibraltar. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Investors want to see more pieces of the Middle East's geopolitical jigsaw drop into place before they give bonds in the region a fresh lift. Saudi Arabia said it will open its land, air and sea borders with Qatar on Monday evening ahead of the meeting, dramatically easing the yearslong diplomatic rift. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- A resolution of the dispute between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors is expected to bolster prospects for the gas-rich nation's non-oil economy over the medium term, according to Fitch Ratings. Lenders' net foreign liabilities rose to a $130 billion, or 70% of GDP, in 2019 The government's asset position mitigates some of the risks from high indebtedness; Fitch estimates sovereign net foreign assets at 137% of GDP in 2019. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Iran seized a South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz hours before announcing it would increase its nuclear activities, as tensions in the region mount in the final days of Donald Trump's U.S. presidency. Seoul's deputy foreign minister was scheduled to visit Iran to discuss the trapped funds, a spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry said just before the tanker was seized. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Investors want to see more pieces of the Middle East's geopolitical jigsaw drop into place before they give bonds in the region a fresh lift. Saudi Arabia said it will open its land, air and sea borders with Qatar on Monday evening ahead of the meeting, dramatically easing the yearslong diplomatic rift. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia will open its land, air and sea borders with Qatar on Monday, substantially easing a years-long diplomatic rift on the eve of a summit of regional leaders. Other disputes have riven the six nations of the GCC -- comprised of Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE -- but none has lasted as long or cut as deep as the current one. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Iran seized a South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz hours before announcing it would increase its nuclear activities, as tensions in the region mount in the final days of Donald Trump's U.S. presidency. Iran detained the U.K.-flagged tanker Stena Impero for more than two months at Bandar Abbas in mid-2019 in retaliation for the arrest of one of its ships off Gibraltar. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia will open its land, air and sea borders with Qatar on Monday evening, a Gulf official said, dramatically easing a yearslong diplomatic rift on the eve of a summit of regional leaders. The step comes as part of efforts to resolve the dispute that's split Qatar from its neighbors since 2017, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Sabah said in a statement on Qatar-based television channel Al-Jazeera. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Iran seized a South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz hours before announcing it would increase its nuclear activities, as tensions in the region mount in the final days of Donald Trump's U.S. presidency. Iran detained the U.K.-flagged tanker Stena Impero for more than two months at Bandar Abbas in mid-2019 in retaliation for the arrest of one of its ships off Gibraltar. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Iran started the process of enriching uranium to 20%, a key acceleration in its nuclear program and another breach of the 2015 deal with world powers, hours after brewing tensions led the U.S. to turn around an aircraft carrier set to leave the Persian Gulf. Iran blamed Israel and the U.S. for November's killing of atomic scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Investors want to see more pieces of the Middle East's geopolitical jigsaw drop into place before they give bonds in the region a fresh lift. Here's how investors view a potential easing in the Qatar rift: Abdul Kadir Hussain, Dubai-based head of fixed-income asset management at Arqaam Capital "If the Qatar issue does get a resolution it would just increase the feel-good factor. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- An oil tanker off the coast of Iraq discovered a mine attached to its hull, the latest incident highlighting the risk to ships in the waters near the Arabian peninsula. The Pola, a Suezmax-class vessel, has been anchored near Iraq since Nov. 7 and is likely being used as floating storage for oil, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Qatar's ruler received an invite from Saudi Arabia's king to attend the January Gulf Cooperation Council summit, which may help resolve a dispute that shattered regional unity and unnerved the Trump administration. The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Qatar's foreign minister said talks were ongoing to resolve the rift that has divided the energy-rich Gulf nations, and that there weren't any obstacles to resolve the crisis at a political level. People with knowledge of the matter said that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are close to a preliminary rapprochement that may not initially include the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates said there is support for ending the conflict with Qatar, but the Qatari media is undermining that effort. The political and social climate in the Arabian Gulf looks toward ending the Qatar crisis, the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said in a tweet. [Extracted from the article]

Qatar will run its largest budget deficit in four years in 2021 as it tries to shake off the impact of the coronavirus and the drag of lower energy prices on government revenue. In June, Qatar's Finance Ministry told other government departments, institutions and entities funded by the state to cut their wage bills for foreign employees by 30%, allowing them to choose whether to cut salaries or make layoffs. [Extracted from the article]

Expats might not flee the Gulf in the numbers predicted earlier as economies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar fare better than expected during the pandemic, according to Oxford Economics. Fueling the exodus, Kuwait passed legislation trimming its foreign workforce as it sought to assuage local anger over job losses, while Saudi Arabia and Qatar aimed to boost citizen employment. Kuwait and Oman "may have decisively turned their backs on expats.". [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Egypt's top diplomat hailed steps toward potentially resolving a three-year dispute that's seen Qatar at odds with its Gulf Arab neighbors as well as his own country. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt in 2017 severed diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar, accusing it of bankrolling militant groups and undermining a regional bid to isolate Iran. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration is preparing to issue a broad plan that keeps the door open for expanded oil drilling off the U.S. coast, including near Southern California, Alaska and Mid-Atlantic states. Trump vowed to unleash offshore oil development and directed his Interior Department to hold annual auctions of Gulf, Arctic and Atlantic waters in a 2017 executive order. [Extracted from the article]