Good morning, friends. The news cycle is holding steady this week, leaving us with a balanced read featuring data centers, LNG trade, and trucking updates.

First up: The UAE is making a play in Southeast Asia as G42 leads a consortium to build three data centers in Vietnam, leveraging its “digital embassy” model to help nations scale AI while keeping a tight grip on their data.

Meanwhile, Germany is turning to the UAE to lock in long-term LNG and ammonia supplies — a strategic move by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to diversify away from reliance on the US and Russian.

ALSO: Trucking sales in Egypt surged by 108% in 2025, a major leap that signals the private sector is finally ready to move past years of pandemic-era stagnation and reinvest in boosting its supply chain assets.

Watch this space

M&A — Mubadala is selling Turkish delivery firm Getir’s food delivery arm to Uber in a USD 335 mn transaction, according to a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Uber will fully acquire the business in a cashfree, debtfree agreement, with the takeover expected to close in 2H of this year, subject to regulatory approval.

That’s not all: Uber will also invest USD 100 mn to take a 15% stake in Getir’s grocery, retail, and water delivery arm, setting the stage to increase its holding to 100% over the next few years, the filing read.

ICYMI- This acquisition has been in the works for a while. In November, Uber and Mubadala sought regulatory approval for the move, following preliminary talks earlier that month regarding Uber’s acquisition of the Turkish firm. At the time, reports cited the value of the proposed acquisition at as much as USD 1 bn. Mubadala had offloaded Getir’s car rental subsidiary last year.

Another offload in the works? Mubadala was also reported to be considering selling Getir’s finance arm.

SUPPLY CHAINS — The UAE and the US are moving to institutionalize how capital flows into critical minerals — signing a framework covering extraction to downstream manufacturing, state news agency Wam reports. The agreement came on the sidelines of the Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington.

The framework sets out a route for the two governments to expedite securing critical mineral supplies. It involves coordinating policy support and mobilizing public and private funding across mining, separation, processing, recycling, and advanced downstream industrial uses.

The timeline: Both sides will work to identify priority projects that close supply chain gaps and begin backing financing for the targeted projects within six months. In addition to financing, support will be offered via capital investments, ins., and regulatory facilitation. End production will target US and Emirati buyers.

The framework is a more concrete manifestation of Pax Silica, a US-led coalition, which the UAE joined in January, that aims to secure supply chains necessary for the AI sector. The continued alignment with the US in the critical mineral sphere has paid off so far, helping state AI firm G42 secure exports of 35k Nvidia Blackwell chips, which are vital for AI projects like the planned 5 GW UAE-US AI campus in Abu Dhabi.

Market watch

Oil prices were down this morning as the market continued to weigh potential disruptions amid US-Iran tensions, Reuters reports. Brent crude futures fell USD 0.18 to trade at USD 68.85 / bbl as of 03:53 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down USD 0.21 to USD 64.15 / bbl.

The Baltic Index keeps sliding: The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index — which tracks rates for the capesize, panamax, and supramax vessel segments — was down 1.5% to 1,895 points on Monday. The capesize dipped 2.9% to 2,833 points, while the panamax index declined 0.2% to 1,648. Meanwhile, the smaller supramax index was up 0.9% to hit 1,114.

Data point

49.8 — that’s the seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers’ Index figure for Egypt in January, according to the latest S&P Global Egypt PMI (pdf), signalling that the non-oil private sector slipped into contraction for the first time in four months. The index landed just below the 50.0 threshold but remained above its long-run average. Despite the slight dip, output rose for the third consecutive month—the longest expansion streak since late 2020—supported by strong international demand even as total new orders softened.

The breakdown: Cost pressures eased to their joint-slowest pace in ten months, allowing firms to cut selling prices for the first time since mid-2020 to boost competitiveness. Output growth coincided with rising spare capacity, as firms cleared backlogs at the fastest rate in nearly three years and left positions vacant, driving in the sharpest dip in employment since October 2023. While falling price indices have fueled expectations of sizable interest rate cuts this year, business confidence remained subdued, with firms maintaining a cautious outlook on future activity.

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