Abu Dhabi deepens China ties with financial hub pact

UAE-China agreement flow keeps building

Abu Dhabi financial center ADGM signed an MoU with a key financial hub in China’s“silicon valley” to build deeper cross-border financial ties. The agreement with the Shenzhen region’s Futian District covers cooperation on financial services, talent development, AI in finance, and investment structures including qualified foreign LP frameworks, alongside joint forums and business engagement between the two sides.

IN CONTEXT- The pact comes as Abu Dhabi looks to deepen its footprint in China, signing 24agreements last week covering trade and investment after the crown prince led a delegation to Beijing that included a politically important photo op with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The UAE is also reportedly considering combining China-focused assets held across Mubadala and L’Imad Holding into a joint vehicle, a sign it wants more China exposure but less overlap when chasing agreements.

UDC moves to construction on Numaj hotel

PIF-backed AlUla Development Company (UDC) kicked off construction on its luxury hotel Numaj. The 250-key hotel, set to open in 2027, is being developed by UDC and will be operated by Marriott International under the Autograph Collection brand.

Laying the groundwork…

DFM-listed brokerage and investment firm Al Ramz Corporation is opening two new GCC-focused funds, according to their prospectuses here (pdf) and here (pdf). they include a sukuk vehicle capped at USD 2 bn and the equity fund at AED 2 bn (USD 540 mn).

The play is access to GCC primary markets. Fortitude, the equity fund, targets institutional equity allocations for investors typically crowded out of oversubscribed regional IPOs — at least before the Iran war threw a wrench in IPO momentum. Its fixed-income sibling, Horizons, offers similar entry into primary-market sukuk that often sell out before reaching the secondary market.

Al Ramz is making a move: The firm appears to be shifting from a brokerage-led model toward a more vertically integrated asset manager, building out distribution and market access alongside its recent expansion into market-making in Bahrain and Oman.

ADVISORS- Emirates NBD Capital will provide custody services for the funds, while Deloitte & Touche was tapped as auditor and our friends at Al Tamimi & Co are counsel.

Levant’s logistics race is on

#1- Another rail project in Jordan? Saudi and Jordanian transport ministries are discussing a rail link that would connect the two countries and Syria. The project appears to be in the pre-study stage, with Saudi Transport Minister Saleh bin Nasser al-Jasser calling for a three-way committee to review optimal routes around Jordan’s Jaber border crossing with Syria and Omari crossing with Saudi.

Why it matters: There’s new interest in literally any cross-border inland logistics project that could provide an alternative to Hormuz. Saudi Arabia has already leveraged inland routes with Jordan during the war, using both trucks and trains to move goods through al-Haditha crossing.

#2- Iraq has reopened the Rabia border corridor with Syria for the first time in more than a decade — giving Baghdad another overland route to export fuel oil. Iraq’s state-owned oil marketer Somo needs to move some 650k metric tons of fuel oil per month between April and June overland through Syria to meet recent contractual obligations, Reuters reports. Baghdad had already redirected flows through its Al Waleed crossing earlier this month — with more than 100 tankers crossing on the first day.