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Mubadala acquires majority stake in Spanish IT company

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Capital has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Babel, a Madrid-based IT and digital transformation services provider. The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, further expands Mubadala’s presence in the business services sector, following its earlier purchase of Dutch safety-critical training company RelyOn Nutec this year. The terms of the […]

Speaking at the Future Hospitality Summit, Accor's CEO Sébastien Bazin said safety of the company's teams is a priority regional tensions

Gulf hospitality industry shrugs off war concerns

Middle East hospitality veterans downplayed concerns over wider regional tensions this week, saying the industry has survived crises before and is poised to do so again. Government officials and corporate executives spoke during the Future Hospitality Summit, which is taking place in Dubai this week, just as military action intensified in Israel, Lebanon and Iran, […]

Suhail Al Mazrouei, the UAE's energy minister, says he expects a large part of oil demand growth to come from the Global South

Without Opec+ ‘we would be in chaos’, says UAE minister

Opec+ is doing a “noble” job of balancing supply and demand in the oil market, the UAE energy minister has said. “Without this group, we would be in chaos,” Suhail Al Mazrouei told a conference on Wednesday. “Opec+ has sacrificed more than others,” the minister said, adding that although the energy group’s members do not […]

2XE2T1B Corporate headquarters of Covestro AG in Leverkusen, at the Chempark, NRW, Germany

Adnoc to buy German chemicals company

Abu Dhabi’s Adnoc has agreed to buy German chemicals producer Covestro for €15.9 billion ($18 billion) including debt, the state oil giant said on Tuesday, representing its largest acquisition to date. The deal is one of the biggest foreign takeovers by a Gulf state as Abu Dhabi and other countries in the region seek to reduce […]

The European Commission has approved e&'s acquisition of PPF Telecom’s assets in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia

e&’s PPF deal gets European Commission nod

UAE telecommunications company e&, formerly known as Etisalat, said that the European Commission (EC) has approved the acquisition of Czech PPF Group’s telecoms business across four European countries. The extensive dialogue with the EC enabled the grant of foreign subsidies regulation (FSR) approval on an accelerated basis, three months ahead of the applicable legal deadline of […]

Gulf London property Staple Inn

Gulf investors put $100m into London property fund

Gulf investors have given $100 million to a shariah-compliant fund run by the alternative asset manager Rasmala Investment Bank in Dubai to spend on the London residential property market. Adnan Adil, an investment director at the bank, told Citywire that he has seen interest from Gulf investors already well acquainted with real estate in London […]

The acquisition of Brookfield's renewable asset portfolio in Spain and Portugal will bolster Masdar's market presence in Europe

Masdar buys $1.4bn green assets in Spain and Portugal

UAE renewable energy major Masdar will acquire a portfolio of renewable power projects in Spain and Portugal from the New York Stock Exchange-listed Brookfield Renewable for $1.4 billion. The move aims to bolster Masdar’s market presence in Europe. The portfolio, known as “Saeta Yield”, includes 745 megawatts (MW) of wind energy assets in Portugal and […]

Serbia's Čibuk 2 wind farm is being developed by Masdar Taaleri Generation, a joint venture between Masdar and Finland’s Taaleri Energia

Masdar secures funding for Serbia’s 154MW wind farm

A joint venture involving Masdar, the UAE’s renewables energy major, has reached financial close on the 154-megawatt (MW) Čibuk 2 wind farm in Serbia. UniCredit and Erste (Erste Group and Erste Bank Serbia) are providing a  €144 million ($160 million) debt facility for the project, the UAE state-run Wam reported. The wind farm is being […]

Salic MHP chicken processing

PIF subsidiary takes stake in Ukraine poultry producer

A subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has taken a stake in the Ukraine-based poultry producer MHP in a deal worth more than $13.5 million. MHP, more fully Myronivsky Hliboproduct, which trades on the London Stock Exchange, is an international food and agrotech company, founded in Kyiv in 1998. It has a strong presence […]

Halo Space, a Madrid-based company, said Saudi Arabia would play a key role in construction of the craft

Halo Space to manufacture capsules in Saudi Arabia

Spanish company Halo Space plans to localise most manufacturing of its high-altitude balloon capsule to Saudi Arabia, it said this week before its first test launch in the kingdom.  The Madrid-based startup is due to stage an unmanned test flight from the Al-Aflaj oasis 330km south of Riyadh within the next two weeks, depending on […]

Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said visited UK prime minister Kier Starmer last month. UK ministers are now in Oman ahead of GCC FTA talks

UK ministers visit Gulf in pursuit of free trade deal

Senior ministers from the UK have arrived in Oman as part of a whirlwind tour of the Gulf designed to accelerate trade talks under the new Labour government. The UK topped the list of countries investing into Oman in 2022, with OR9.6 billion ($25 billion), dwarfing the US in second spot on OR3.7 billion, according […]

The company will develop a 1GW solar power plant and 100MW battery storage project

Egypt’s first hybrid solar project to break ground next year

Norway’s renewable energy producer Scatec will begin work on Egypt’s first hybrid solar power and battery storage project in the first half of 2025. The company has signed a US dollar-denominated 25-year power purchase agreement with the state-run Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company for a 1GW solar power plant and 100MW battery storage project. Financial details […]

Water, Waterfront, Shipping Container

Turkish exports to the UK hit all-time high

Turkey’s exports to the United Kingdom reached a record high in the first eight months of 2024, according to official data. Exports rose 11 percent year on year to $8.3 billion between January and August, Anadolu Agency reported, citing data from the Turkish Exporters Assembly. The automotive sector led the way, with exports reaching $2.7 […]

Redbird Spectator

Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI sells The Spectator for $131m

RedBird IMI, a US investment group backed by Abu Dhabi’s International Media Investments, has sold the British magazine The Spectator to hedge fund boss Paul Marshall. The deal with Marshall, through his Old Queen Street Ventures fund, was worth £100 million ($131 million). Marshall is co-founder and chief investment officer of the global hedge fund […]

Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas. Only Saudia and British Airways currently offer direct flights between London and Riyadh

Virgin Atlantic confirms partnership with Riyadh Air

Virgin Atlantic has signed a partnership with Riyadh Air, which will start when the new Saudi national carrier launches next year. Riyadh Air has been expected to announce cooperation agreements with other operators.  A statement said the partnership would open new destinations in Saudi Arabia and beyond, and would include Virgin’s London-Riyadh route, but gave […]

Workers on a Saudi Aramco rig. The latest contracts are part of a 12-year framework agreement with Italy's Saipem

Aramco awards $1bn oil-field contract to Saipem

Saudi Aramco has awarded two offshore contracts worth $1 billion to Italian energy contractor Saipem to expand infrastructure at its oil fields. The contracts are part of the 12-year framework agreement with Saipem, signed in November 2020, to cover onshore engineering and construction activities. It aims to optimise consumption and reduce emissions of CO2 and hydrogen […]

The Botas-Shell LNG deal provides additional regional and global trade opportunities said Turkish energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar

Turkey’s Botas strikes deal to buy LNG from Shell

Turkish energy company Boru Hatları ile Petrol Taşıma AŞ (Botas) has agreed to buy up to four billion cubic metres of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from British energy major Shell. The companies signed a 10-year supply pact, with Shell starting deliveries from 2027 from its US and global portfolio. The deal will enable Botas to […]