Good morning, wonderful people, and happy FRIDAY. We appreciate a somewhat calm ending to the week, as we head into the final 10 days of Ramadan.

The two big stories here at home are Agility’s plans to list one of its subsidiaries on the ADX as soon as this May, and Taqa’s new JV, which will develop a Saudi industrial plant.

⛅WEATHER- The fickle spring weather continues this weekend with the mercury expected to hit 27°C today during the day in Dubai, before seeing an overnight low of 18°C, with a chance of high winds and humidity. Abu Dhabi will see the mercury hit 29°C and an overnight low of 17°C.

Tomorrow, expect a chance of light rainfall, and a range of 30-21°C depending on the time of day. Temperatures will continue to rise by Sunday.

So, when do we eat? Maghrib prayers are at 6:37pm in Dubai and 6:40pm in Abu Dhabi, and you have until 4:59am to hydrate and caffeinate ahead of Fajr in Abu Dhabi, and until 4:55am in Dubai.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT-

Your Dubai commute just got easier: Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authoritycompleted its Ras Al Khor Road widening project, upping vehicle capacity to 8k per hour from 6k and reducing travel times by up to 33% during peak periods, it said in a statement. The project added an extra lane in both directions along a 3 km section of the road, from the Bu Kadra intersection to the Al Khail Road intersection.

More to come: The authority plans to widen the collector road for turns on Ras Al Khor Road toward the road from Dubai to Al Ain from one to two lanes by April. The upgrade is expected to double vehicle capacity per hour and enhance traffic flow by 100%.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Telecel acquires West Africa telecom assets ahead of potential Dubai IPO:Africa-focused telecommunications company Telecel has acquired two debt and equity subsidiaries of South African mobile operator MTN in Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry, CEO Moh Damush tells Bloomberg. The acquisitions come as part of its preparation for a potential IPO within three years, which could be on the Dubai Financial Market. No details were given about the exact size of the stake or the value of the acquisitions.

The telecom player is still considering which exchange it wants to go public on: “Dubai and London seem to be our preferred options for a listing,” according to Damush. “We are also interested in further developments in the next years that would allow considering African bourses.”

#2- The Abu Dhabi Executive Council approved the emirate’s tourism strategy for 2030 at a meeting yesterday, aiming to almost double the number of visitors to 39.3 mn visitors and boost the sector’s contribution to non-oil GDP to AED 90 bn a year by the end of the decade, state news agency Wam reports. The emirate saw 23 mn visitors in 2023, with the sector contributing AED 49 bn to GDP.

#3- Decision time for Thames Water shareholders, including ADIA: The UK’s largest water and sewage company is in need of a lifeline — or a potential sale — from one of its investors — which include a unit of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, after shareholders refused to inject GBP 500 mn in equity into the company, the company said in a statement yesterday. The equity would have helped the company refinance a GBP 190 mn loan set to mature on 30 April.

The reasoning? Shareholders said the company is “uninvestable” under the current regulatory regime, following unresolved issues between the UK’s Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) and the shareholders over price changes.

What now? The company faces several options, which Bloomberg identifies as either:

  • Nationalizing Thames, which would require the government to pay bns in GBP to save the company and is an unfavorable solution;
  • One of the shareholders buys out others’ stakes in the company, a more favorable option for the company’s later investors who have yet to see returns on their investments, including Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, or USS;
  • Listing shares on the public market after Ofwat provides more clarity on water companies’ investment plans until 2030.

Background: ADIA subsidiary Infinity Investments currently owns a 9.9% stake in the company, according to Thames Water’s website.

#4- GCC banks could record their highest-ever value of USD debt issuances in 1Q 2024, on the back of investor sentiment driven by heightened oil prices, some USD 30 bn of maturities in 2024 and 2025, and lower USD interest rates, according to Fitch Ratings.

Year-to-date issuances across the region currently stand at USD 20.1 bn, already exceeding the total for the entirety of 2023 (USD 15.2 bn). UAE and Saudi banks together comprise more than half of the issuances, with the UAE accounting for 26% and Saudi Arabia accounting for 33%. Of the issuances that have gone to market so far this year, 51% were sukuk.

Background:Fitch Ratings previously predicted the UAE debt capital market would expand 11% y-o-y to USD 300 bn (AED 1.1 tn) in 2024-2025, with the rise of USD listings among the reasons for expansion. USD-denominated debt accounted for 71.4% of total debt in 2023.

#5- Indian payments company Infibeam Avenues’ UAE-based subsidiary Avenues World is raising USD 25 mn in a pre-IPO round from select investors for a potential UAE-based listing, Indian TV network CNBC TV18 reports. Following the funding, Avenues will no longer be wholly owned by Infibeam, according to the statement. Vavian International Limited, another subsidiary of Infibeam Avenues, will hold a majority stake of 75%.

HAPPENING NEXT WEEK-

#1- Dubai-based contractor Drake & Scull International’s shareholders will reconvene next Monday, 1 April, to review the company’s restructuring plan, after the meeting was pushed back from Wednesday, reports Wam. The restructuring plan includes writing off 90% of the financial and trade creditors' dues, and issuing a mandatory convertible sukuk — convertible into shares after five years — against the remaining 10%.The DFM approved its restructuring plan back in November 2023, which it was required to implement within a year from approval. Drake & Skull’s plans to increase its share capital will also be up for shareholder review at the meeting.

ICYMI- The construction company was suspended from trading in November 2018 on the back of excessive financial losses and reporting violations. The Dubai Financial Market greenlit the relisting of Drake and Scull earlier this month after the firm conducted an AED 300 mn capital increase, awaiting shareholders’ approval at the upcoming general assembly meeting.

#6- CBUAE to hold AED 29 bn m-bill auction: The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) will auction four m-bills worth up to AED 29 bn next Monday, 1 April, according to a statement (pdf). One of the m-bills is a tap issuance, and the four have tenors ranging from 28 to 336 days.

Decoding central bank speak: M-bills are short-term securities issued in AED by the CBUAE at no interest. The bonds typically have maturity dates of one to 12 months and are not retrievable through any other listing. A tap issuance allows the CBUAE to more finely control money supply by allowing it the flexibility to continue selling bills past the initial auction date.

DATA POINT-

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI) spend AED 1.8 bn on aid for 111 mn people across 105 countries in 2023,up AED 400 mn in comparison with 2022, the National reports, citing figures announced at an event at Dubai Opera yesterday. The organization increased its beneficiaries by 9 bn and expanded its coverage to five more countries than the previous year.

Over 34.4 mn people have benefited from MBRGI's humanitarian aid and relief initiatives, which saw AED 1.1 bn spent during the year (an increase of 21% y-o-y). MBRGI recruited a record number of volunteers in 2023 at 160k.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud and conspiracy — a more lenient sentence than the five decades prosecutors had been angling for. The US court handed him his sentence after finding Bankman-Fried’s defense to be unfounded and after he was found to have lied in court. He also promised to appeal the sentence in court.

Want to dig deeper? We broke down WTF will happen with FTX investors’ money following his sentencing earlier this week.

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