Drones? What drones? The Gulf’s BSD’s are pushing big deals across the finish line.

It sucks to be a real estate player in the UAE right now, but regional dealmakers barely blinked as week four of the Iran war limps to a close.

Blackstone wrote its first private equity check into the UAE since the war started, Saudi IPO candidates are racing to beat a June deadline, Trolley pulled off a rare Kuwait IPO, and Egypt rolled out incentives to get companies on the EGX. Earlier this week, Aramco signalled it’s pressing ahead with a USD 10 bn+ asset sale. Toss in a USD 2.8 bn credit facility for DAE, Borouge-Borealis crossing the finish line on a c. USD 60 bn platform (we had details on Wednesday), and fresh debt and securitization issuances in Cairo? Deals are getting done, war or no war.

UP FIRST- Blackstone is still writing checks into Abu Dhabi. The world’s largest alternative asset manager funneled USD 250 mn into Advanced Digital Gaming Technology (ADGT), a newly formed Abu Dhabi-based fintech for the gaming industry valued at around USD 1 bn, giving it instant unicorn status. (The games in question are cards and slots, not video games — we can’t use the more common name for the industry because the algos that govern our deliverability will get uppity with us.)

Who’s at the table? ADGT was set up under a partnership between Blackstone and Abu Dhabi’s Raya Holding, alongside Las Vegas-based gaming fintechs NRT Technology and Sightline. It’s the only licensed B2B player connecting a player’s money to a regulated gaming operator in the UAE (so far), positioning it to serve both physical venues (like Wynn’s USD 3.9 bn Ras Al Khaimah resort) and online operators.

Why it matters: It’s Blackstone’s first inbound PE investment since the Iran war broke out, and its third major ‘infrastructure’ (in one form or another) play in the UAE after its USD 5 bn logistics platform Glide and its stake in Property Finder. “We see significant opportunity to deploy capital at scale in the UAE,” Blackstone President Jon Gray said.

Trolley delivers rare Kuwait IPO

Kuwaiti convenience store operator Trolley listed a 35% stake on Boursa Kuwait’s Premier Market on Wednesday, wrapping a USD 195 mn IPO. The private placement, which marks a rare debut in one of the GCC’s quietest markets, was upsized after closing 15.2x oversubscribed on strong institutional demand, with bookbuilding kicking off just ahead of the military escalation. Trolley runs over 200 stores across Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and is guiding for a 90% payout ratio (pdf) for FY 2026.

Although the offering drew in solid demand, the stock closed 1.4% down on its first day of trading as it landed in a sour market, with Kuwait’s flagship index down 1.8% since the outbreak of the war.

ADVISORS- Our friends at EFG Hermes acted as joint global coordinators alongside National Investments Company.

Beating the IPO buzzer in Saudi

Saudi IPO candidates are racing the clock. Both Mutlaq Al Ghowairi Contracting and Arabian Dyar are reportedly pushing to list before their regulatory approvals expire in late June, Bloomberg reports. That comes even as bankers have been telling clients to move to the fall IPO window as war tanks valuations across the region. Saudi has held up better than many: The Tadawul All-Share Index is up 5.7% since the start of the year against a 9.7% dip for the DFM.

Arabian Dyar is looking for an SAR 16 bn valuation, while Mutlaq Al Ghowairi thinks it’s worth SAR 12-15 bn. They need to list before the end of June or restart the clock on an approvals process that can last just about as long as it takes to make a fully-formed human.

Also in the queue: Quick-delivery startup Ninja is sounding out the market for a potential listing, with executives meeting investors in London this month, and Networkers Services appointed Estidamah Capital to advise on its jump from the Nomu baby bourse to Tadawul’s main market.

IN OTHER IPO NEWS- India’s Jio Platforms — backed by Adia and Mubadala — is in talks with 13 foreign investors to sell down stakes ahead of its Mumbai IPO, Reuters reports. Each investor could divest roughly 8% of their holdings, representing about 2.5% of Jio’s total shares. At an estimated USD 180 bn valuation, even small percentage moves mean real money: Mubadala holds 1.85% and Adia owns 1.16%.

Egypt upping its IPO game?

IN EGYPT: The Finance Ministry is dangling tax breaks to get companies onto the EGX. Newly listed companies will receive a 30% reduction on payable corporate income tax in year one, 20% in year two, and 10% in year three, a senior government official tells EnterpriseAM. The scheme applies to the roughly 20 state-owned enterprises the government is looking to list or exit as part of its plan to generate USD 3-4 bn in divestment revenues by year-end.

Perhaps more significant: The decision to waive capital gains tax liabilities on stock transactions dating back to June 2023, which could help bolster investor appetite. Lost revenues will be cushioned by stamp tax receipts, which are expected to raise EGP 15 bn a year — double initial estimates.

AND- Miga is backing a USD 313.5 mn trade finance facility for the National Bank of Egypt, covering short-term revolving trade loans from HSBC and Standard Chartered, according to a project disclosure. The facility will target “strategic priority” sectors including energy and agriculture — a World Bank credit guarantee that makes it cheaper for NBE to tap international banks for trade financing.

GCC heavyweights ❤️ Chinese AI IPOs

ADIA and Aramco Ventures are in the money from writing tickets for the world’s two best-performing major IPOs, according to Bloomberg data. ADIA put USD 65 mn as a cornerstone investor in the January IPO of AI outfit MiniMax Group — a stake that’s now worth north of USD 400 mn. Aramco’s pre-listing commitment of USD 30 mn to Zhipu AI is now up an insane 14x. Both outfits went public in January on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

ALSO WORTH KNOWING

DAE lined up USD 2.8 bn in unsecured revolving credit facilities, replacing a smaller USD 1.4 bn facility and pushing total revolving capacity to USD 4 bn through March 2031, it said in a press release earlier this week. Fifteen banks participated, including First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates NBD, and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. The fact that lenders were willing to provide unsecured long-term financing points to strong confidence in DAE’s balance sheet — and the timing matters: rising war-risk premiums are beginning to strain smaller lessors and airlines, which could open doors for a well-capitalized player like DAE.

Moroccan agro-industrial group Africa Feed & Food (AFF) landed a MAD 850 mninvestment led by the North Africa Fund III (RNAF III) and French development finance institution Proparco. AFF will use the money to grow its industrial capacity in Morocco and accelerate its buildout in West Africa, specifically targeting Senegal and Mauritania.

Mubadala Energy is doubling down on Indonesia, taking a 100% participating stake and adding a fourth asset to its Andaman Sea growth cluster, it said in a press release.

AriseIIP is committing USD 3 bn to Kenya over five years, targeting industrial and export complexes along the coast, a facility in Naivasha, and the state-owned Rivatex textiles complex, Executive Director Nikhil Gandhi told Reuters. The Dubai-based infrastructure developer will fund 30-40% directly, with the rest coming from development finance institutions.

USD 30 bn climate investment vehicle Alterra deployed more capital from its Opportunity Fund, investing in UK-based IoT connectivity platform Wireless Logic alongside General Atlantic’s climate-focused BeyondNetZero fund, according to a press release.

Solutions by STC secured an SAR 1.4 bn contract to deploy upstream supercomputers for Aramco, providing high-performance computing systems, software licensing, and managed services for oil and gas exploration and reservoir analysis.

Market Snapshot

Tadawul -0.3% • ADX +0.8% • DFM flat • EGX30 +1.2%

Brent USD 74.10 / bbl • Gold USD 2,038 / oz • USD / SAR 3.7502 • USD / EGP 50.85