Opinion Infrastructure Rail link to UAE will supercharge Oman’s port city of Sohar Businesses in the sultanate's northern city will get direct access to the UAE’s global connections August 30, 2024
Retail Gaza boycotts fuel sales spike for Gulf beauty brands Homegrown beauty brands in the Middle East are benefiting from boycotts of international companies as a result of the Israel-Gaza conflict. The cosmetics giant L’Oreal said the boycotts had a two-percentage-point drag on its growth in the first half of the year, as consumers turned their backs on the Paris-based company which also owns the […] August 30, 2024
Trade UAE-Philippines trade talks to enter third round The next round of trade negotiations between the UAE and the Philippines will take place next month, with a final deal expected to be signed in October. Beyond lower tariffs and reduced barriers to trade, the UAE-Philippines comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) is expected to drive capital flows by opening avenues for new investments and […] August 30, 2024
Analysis Real Estate Only two bright spots for real estate transparency in Mena Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia have climbed higher in a biennial ranking of the most transparent real estate markets in the world, as local authorities push to open up their markets in a bid to appeal to foreign investors. But the UAE and Saudi Arabia are the only bright spots for transparency in the […] August 30, 2024
Leisure & Hospitality Dubai’s Sunset Hospitality expands global portfolio Sunset Hospitality Group (SHG) has acquired a majority stake in Maximal Concepts Holding, a Hong Kong hospitality company, as part of its strategic expansion plan. The acquisition will diversify Dubai-based SHG’s portfolio and facilitate its expansion into key markets such as the US, Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, the company said. SHG, […] August 30, 2024
Manufacturing Emirates Global Aluminium profit down as prices weaken Net profits at Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the biggest non-oil industrial company in the UAE, fell 6 percent to AED1.84 billion ($500 million) in the first half of 2024 from AED1.96 billion a year ago, driven by lower product prices. The average realised London Metal Exchange aluminium price declined 2 percent year on year to […] August 30, 2024
Telecoms UAE telco e& buys Turkish tech company for $60m A wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-listed e& – more commonly known as Etisalat – has acquired GlassHouse, a Turkey-based cloud solutions provider, for $60 million. The UAE telco’s subsidiary, e& enterprise, had signed an agreement with Mediterra Capital and individual shareholders in June. GlassHouse is an Istanbul-headquartered IT infrastructure services provider which serves 2,000 enterprises […] August 30, 2024
Food & Drink Talabat food delivery service prepares for Dubai IPO The food delivery company Talabat is to list on the Dubai Financial Market this year, 20 years after it was founded. The business, which operates in eight countries across the Middle East and North Africa, will pursue an initial public offering in the fourth quarter, according to a filing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange from […] August 29, 2024
Energy Dubai’s Dragon Oil expands Turkmenistan production Dragon Oil, wholly-owned by the Dubai government, plans to invest more than $10 billion to expand production from the Cheleken concession area in Turkmenistan. The investments are expected to increase the cumulative crude production capacity to 447 million barrels, the UAE state-run Wam news agency reported. The Dubai-headquartered company has been operating the offshore Cheleken […] August 29, 2024
Markets NMDC Energy to raise $877m from Abu Dhabi listing NMDC Group expects to raise AED3.22 billion ($877 million) when its wholly-owned energy subsidiary lists next month on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX). The initial public offering of NMDC Energy, an engineering, procurement, and construction contractor for energy projects, will consist of 1.15 billion shares at AED2.8 per share. The shares are expected to begin […] August 29, 2024
Analysis Oil & Gas India’s Russian oil imports dent Gulf’s market share Energy-hungry India has overtaken China as the world’s top importer of Russian oil as New Delhi takes advantage of sizeable discounts and shuns Gulf exporters to satisfy growing demand. India’s oil intake from Russia rocketed to record levels of more than 2 million barrels per day in July, from just 88,000 bpd in 2021-22, according […] August 29, 2024
Transport Dubai Aerospace Enterprise buys 23 aircraft for $1.1bn Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Limited, a global aviation services company, has acquired 23 aircraft from multiple companies for $1.1 billion. The company’s aircraft portfolio will have an average age of 3.4 years and an average lease term remaining of 8.8 years on completion of the deal by year-end. These jets are on lease to 13 airlines […] August 28, 2024
Finance Salik values two new Dubai toll gates at $735m Dubai toll operator Salik has valued its two new toll gates at AED2.7 billion ($735 million), as it aims to turnaround its drop in profit during the second quarter of this year. The Business Bay gate is valued at AED2.3 billion while the Al Safa South Gate is estimated at AED469 million. The new gates, […] August 28, 2024
Retail Majid Al Futtaim retail revenue drop drags H1 profit Increasingly frugal shoppers and currency devaluations led the retail division of UAE conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim to report an 11 percent year-on-year drop in revenue in the first half of the year, resulting in its net profit dropping 6 percent. The company’s retail operations account for around 70 percent of its total business and consist […] August 27, 2024
Tech New UAE space company to develop 50 satellites per year A $100 million space company, backed by Abu Dhabi-listed International Holding Company, will become the first company in the UAE to develop commercial low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Orbitworks, a joint venture between Marlan Space and US-headquartered Loft Orbital, will be the Middle East’s first private space infrastructure company. It plans to develop 50 satellites […] August 27, 2024
Analysis Banking and Finance Instability in India’s Gift City could push investors to UAE India’s Gift City – a special economic zone located in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Gujarat home state – has attracted commitments from backers including sovereign wealth funds from the Gulf. However a halt in approvals to set up family offices has put the brakes on its ambitions to become a global financial hub after regulators […] August 27, 2024
Construction Belgian company wins $220m Palm Jebel Ali dredging contract The AED 810 million ($220 million) contract to complete dredging, land reclamation, beach profiling and other work at Palm Jebel Ali has been awarded to a subsidiary of the Belgian-owned Jan De Nul Group. In May the Dubai state-owned developer Nakheel announced that local contractor DBB Contracting and Khansaheb Civil Engineering, a subsidiary of Khansaheb […] August 26, 2024
Opinion Aviation Emirates’ first Asian store is a sign of its wider ambition Airlines have been veering away from bricks-and-mortar but Emirates has bucked the trend August 26, 2024
Health Mubadala joins $680m acquisition of UCB’s Chinese business Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Company and Singapore’s CBC Group have jointly acquired the neurology and allergy business of UCB, a Belgian biopharmaceutical company, for $680 million. The deal includes UCB’s neurology portfolio (Keppra, Vimpat and Neupro) and allergy portfolio (Zyrtec and Xyzal) in mainland China and its Zhuhai manufacturing site. The combined net sales for […] August 26, 2024
Tech Telegram founder Pavel Durov arrested in France Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of the Dubai-based Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Le Bourget airport, Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday, and placed in custody, three sources have told Reuters. Durov, 39, who has dual French and UAE citizenship, was arrested as part of a […] August 26, 2024
