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Mergers & acquisitions

City, Coupe, Car

Influx of millionaires stokes UAE demand for private bankers

An influx of affluent migrants is fuelling demand for wealth management services in the UAE, with some private bankers joining their clients in the seven-figure-salary club as competition for their expertise soars. Andrew Amoils, head of research at Johannesburg-based analyst New World Wealth, told AGBI that the number of centi-millionaires – people with fortunes of […]

Jared Kushner’s firm leads $200m funding for Dubizzle’s owner

UAE-based unicorn Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG) has completed a $200 million investment led by Affinity Partners, a global firm launched in 2021 by former US president Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. EMPG owns leading UAE classifieds platforms Bayut and Dubizzle, along with several platforms across emerging markets focused on Mena, South and Southeast Asia. The investment round […]

Abu Dhabi's IHC is accelerating the growth of its tech portfolio

IHC sets out plan to create Mena’s largest tech company

International Holding Company (IHC), the Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate, plans to create the largest tech holding company in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. IHC said it wants to scale up its IT businesses as part of the long-term strategy to grow its capacity in the tech industry across different sectors. The company added […]

Dubai Creek Harbour

Mena investment banking fees surge past $1bn for year so far

JP Morgan and HSBC remain the top fee-earning investment banks in the Middle East and North Africa, a new report has found, although a further slowdown in mergers and acquisitions could help regional banks boost their share.  Total investment banking fees in the Mena amounted to $1.05 billion in the first nine months of 2022, […]

Pensions in demand as expats stay longer in the Gulf

Expats are staying in the Gulf longer than the global average, leading to greater demand for pension services in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. “We have observed an increase in interest and discussion in the Middle East around offering pension type savings for expatriate employees,” said Robert Ansari, head of investment and retirement for India, […]

Future Collars has helped several thousand people gain the skills to enter the tech industry, the majority being women

Royal seal of approval for Polish firm to solve Gulf’s tech issue

A member of the royal family in the UAE is backing a Polish firm’s entry to the Gulf as it aims to address the severe skill shortage in the region’s technology sector. Future Collars is a digital IT training company that has worked with Amazon, Accenture and BNP Paribas to train highly skilled workers. Headquartered […]

A woman pays for her coffee with crypto at a cashless cafe in Singapore
  • Opinion

Ethereum has switched. Your move, bitcoin

It's been more than a month since the ethereum switch, and while its market cap has fallen and bitcoin's has stayed flat, many think it's only a matter of time

UAE staff told to wait until next year for salary increases

The majority of UAE companies are resisting giving staff a boost in their salaries to help compensate for the rising cost of living, with most putting any increases off until next year. Reuters reported in August that Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest bank, had given its staff a pay rise of up to eight percent to […]

Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi Group (KEZAD) will grow emirate's economic free zones

Abu Dhabi sets up KEZAD Group to bolster its industrial ambitions

AD Ports Group has set up a new business, KEZAD Group, to expand its economic cities and free zones offering. KEZAD, which stands for Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi, merges the operations of Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) and Specialised Economic Zones (ZonesCorp). It operates 12 economic zones with a total area of 550 […]

Atletic Mineiro fans: potential club investors are attracted by Brazil's passion for football

Samba in the sand: Arab investors set sights on Brazilian football

A 51 percent stake in Atletico Mineiro could fetch $200m Liverpool legend John Barnes says European-sized deals unlikely Libra league expects broadcasting revenues to rise 56% to $1bn  A new law allowing Brazil’s soccer clubs to seek foreign investment is already attracting investors from the Middle East. But experts say Brazilian teams are unlikely to […]

  • Analysis

Something old, something new: The Quran goes NFT

In a novel merging of yesterday and tomorrow, one million people have been invited to purchase a non-fungible token (NFT) version of a rare copy of the Quran. MetaDee, a London-based digital NFT marketplace offering artworks and rare collectibles from around the world, has tokenised an exclusive handwritten Holy Quran manuscript by the personal scribe […]

Oman puts partial privatisation of power distribution firm on hold

The proposed partial privatisation of Oman’s power distribution provider, Muscat Electricity Distribution Company (MEDC), is currently on hold pending a review of options for the broader restructuring of the country’s distribution companies, according to a local media report. The decision to hold the intended privatisation came from the Authority for Public Services Regulation, Hamdan Al […]

Smiling until he sees the bill: mobile data does not come cheap in Dubai

Dubai ranks as most expensive city for mobile data

Dubai has taken the unenviable top spot as the most expensive city for affordability of mobile data, with the average cost of 1GB equating to 0.55 percent of personal disposable income, said a new study. In second place is Auckland with 0.37 percent, followed by Seoul (0.32 percent), Buenos Aires (0.32 percent) and Manila with 0.31 […]

The sky’s the limit for cloud kitchens in the Gulf

While many businesses suffered due to the coronavirus pandemic, cloud kitchens – companies that prepare food solely for home delivery without having sit-down restaurant space – were beneficiaries of the online ordering boom. The GCC has been a hotspot for this growth with companies including Sweetheart Kitchen, Kitopi, KLC Virtual Restaurants and kaykroo overseeing delivery […]

Traditional UAE banks must snap up neobanks to survive

The UAE’s growing army of digital-only banks could soon be snapped up by traditional banks as digitisation continues apace, experts have told AGBI. A global survey published on Tuesday by UK-based comparison platform, Finder, said 19 percent of adults in the UAE have a neobank account, up from 17 percent last year – and that […]

Reforms draw North American investors to the Gulf

North America-based entities were the most active investors in Middle East and North Africa merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in the first half of 2022. Attracted by ongoing economic reforms in the region, US and Canadian firms took part in 30 percent of inbound M&A activity, with a particular focus on technology-related investments. The latest […]

Gulf’s $2bn buy-now-pay-later sector shrugs off global slump

Despite the global pessimism surrounding buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) finance providers, the Gulf region continues to push forward with related acquisitions and expansion plans. The recent string of big ticket global BNPL casualties highlights several companies with direct links to the UAE. Abu Dhabi-backed Swedish operator Klarna last month managed to raise $800 million in new funding, […]

Global investor Actis turns focus on Dubai solar platform

Actis, a London-headquartered investor in global sustainable infrastructure, has announced an agreement to acquire a controlling stake in Dubai-based Yellow Door Energy Limited (YDE). Yellow Door Energy is a major solar platform in the Middle East and Africa region with around 200MW of secured production capacity.  The transaction, the value of which has not been […]

Gulf banks move step closer to creating $115bn new lender

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has made a firm offer to buy Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank (AUB). The bumper deal would create the Gulf’s seventh-largest lender with $115 billion in assets. In a statement on the Bahrain Stock Exchange on Monday, AUB said it had received a notice of firm intention from KFH to acquire 100 […]