EU clears SABIC Europe sale, erad raises $22M, Pinnacle backs Gathern

Four deals this week, one large and three that tell you something about who is funding Saudi growth companies now.

SABIC Europe goes to Aequita

The European Commission cleared Aequita's acquisition of sole control of SABIC Europe on September 28 under its simplified procedure, meaning Brussels saw no competition problem. The business covers sites in Geleen, Gelsenkirchen, Genk and Teesside. Aequita plans to fold it into its Velogy platform, and EnterpriseAM reports the sale should close in the fourth quarter. The same report notes SABIC finished selling its engineering thermoplastics unit to Mutares in August, and counts the two sales together at SAR 3.6 billion.

I read this as a company concentrating on the chemicals where it earns the best returns, which fits the direction its parent has set. For anyone who has worked on carve-outs, the interesting part is the buyer type. A specialist industrial investor is paying for scale it can combine with assets it already owns, and a Saudi seller is a willing counterparty.

erad: $22 million Series A

erad raised $22 million, led by MEVP, with 500 Global, Saudi Venture Capital, S60 Ventures, ANB Capital, Conjunction Capital and Araya Ventures coming in as new investors. Khwarizmi, Nuwa, Aljazira Capital, Oraseya and Joa followed on. The company lends up to SAR 10 million of working capital to SMEs and says it has put more than SAR 500 million to work, with over SAR 4 billion of requests received.

That request figure is the number I'd look at. SMEs asking for eight times what a lender has supplied is a market signal, even if some of those requests are speculative. I run bids at Northlane, so I know how much a small contractor's choices depend on whether payment arrives in 48 hours or 90 days.

Rela and Gathern

Yazeed Al Rajhi & Brothers Holding joined Rela, a workforce housing startup that only launched this year. No amount was disclosed. Pinnacle, through its Growth & Secondary Fund, added to its Gathern position, also undisclosed. Gathern's Series B in August 2025 was $72 million, led by Sanabil.

Both are private-capital moves: a family holding and a secondary-focused fund. If you run a Chicago fund looking at the region, these are the local counterparties you will sit across from.

What I'd watch next

The SABIC Europe closing in the fourth quarter. And whether Pinnacle-style secondary buyers show up in more Saudi cap tables, because founders and early backers need somewhere to sell.