Good morning, friends. It’s another busy day of news as Indonesian President Joko Widodo wraps his visit to the UAE with a raft of MoUs — and a USD 3 bn investment from Eagle Hills — and we get more updates on debt issuances from Binghatti and Masdar — plus a big dose of macro data.

** PROGRAMMING NOTE- EnterpriseAM UAE is off tomorrow. Longtime readers of our other publications know that we take occasional holidays during the dog days of summer and toward year’s end to recharge our batteries. We’re taking a day tomorrow to enjoy some time with family and friends — we’ll see all of you back here on Monday at our usual time.

WEATHER- The mercury will hit 42°C today in Dubai, before cooling to an overnight low of 35°C. Abu Dhabi will see a high of 37°C and an overnight low of 32°C.

UPDATES-

#1- Abu Dhabi National Hotels (ADNH) confirmed that it is considering “strategic options” for its catering business ADNH Catering, including a potential IPO of the business in a statement. The firm had reportedly tapped banks to work on a planned initial public offering for ADNH Catering, with sources saying the IPO could raise about USD 300-400 mn.

#2- The UAE brokered a prisoner exchange agreement between Russia and Ukraine, marking its sixth mediation between the two countries this year, Wam reports. The latest exchange involved swapping 190 prisoners, bringing the total to over 1.5k individuals exchanged in 2024.

ICYMI- Bloomberg reported yesterday that the agreement involved swapping 180 prisoners.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS-

#1- Good news for Reem Island businesses, not so much for finance firms at ADGM: Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) will slash licensing fees by 50% or more for non-financial and retail businesses, starting 1 January 2025, Wam reports. ADGM will cut non-financial business registration fees from USD 10k to USD 5k, while annual renewal fees will drop from USD 8k to USD 5k. Retail businesses will also see their registration fees reduced from USD 6k to USD 2k and renewals halved to USD 2k.

Financial firms will see a moderate fee increase, up from USD 15k to USD 20k, with renewals rising from USD 13k to USD 15k. Tech and fintech startups will also pay slightly more, with fees increasing from USD 1k to USD 1.5k for both new registrations and renewals. Meanwhile, special purpose vehicle fees will remain at USD 1.9k.

We knew this was coming: CEO of ADGM’s Registration Authority Hamad Al Mazrouei told Al Arabiya earlier this month that the financial hub is reviewing its license fees in a bid to attract more firms and facilitate the transition for companies in Al Reem Island to ADGM. This follows the previous fee waiver for Al Reem Island businesses until the upcoming November to ease their transition after the island joined ADGM’s jurisdiction in November 2023.

#2- Robots on Abu Dhabi’s streets? You can now find robots on Abu Dhabi’s streets to ask for directions or traffic tips, courtesy of Abu Dhabi police, according to a statement.

HAPPENING TODAY-

It’s the final day of the Asia-PacificAccreditation Cooperation (APAC) annual meetings hosted by the Industry and Advanced Technology Ministry in Dubai. Held under the theme “Accreditation: Empowering Tomorrow and Shaping the Future,” the meetings bring together representatives from 65 national accreditation bodies across the Asia-Pacific region, alongside international experts in accreditation and conformity assessment, Wam reports.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Nuclear expansion to reel in bns-worth tenders: The UAE is “actively exploring” a second nuclear plant, a project that would be valued at “tens of bns of USD,” to meet soaring electricity demand, Hamad Alkaabi, the UAE’s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, confirmed to Reuters. No final decisions have been made, but a tender could potentially be launched later this year, expected to attract bids from global nuclear players like China, Russia, and the US.

This isn’t the first time we hear about a second nuclear plant. In April, Reuters reported that the government is considering the expansion to double nuclear reactors and meet energy demands. The government was said to award the contracts this year, with the plant expected to begin operations near the Saudi Arabian border or the existing Barakah plant by 2032.

A lot is yet to be decided: While a budget or location for the second plant has not been set, “any new power plant would likely consist of two or four reactors,” Alkaabi said. The government has already held talks with major nuclear energy technology developers, Alkaabi said without disclosing their names.

We have news of two UAE-backed companies tapping public markets overseas:

#1- Abu Dhabi-backed BNPL startup Klarna is gearing up for a US IPO in 2025: Backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Mubadala, Swedish fintech Klarna plans to go public as early as the first half of 2025, the Financial Times reports, citing people in the know. The company is mulling tapping Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs as underwriters on the IPO, sources said. Other banks could yet join the underwriting group, they added.

The company’s decision to pursue a listing comes as executives and advisers express confidence that the IPO market will rebound in 2025 after years of volatility, according to two individuals familiar with the matter.

Previous valuations: Klarna was last valued at USD 6.7 bn in 2022 during a fundraising round that was heavily discounted due to rising interest rates and declining tech stock prices. Previously, it had been valued at USD 46 bn in 2022.

#2- PureHealth could stand to get a capital boost from Ardent’s IPO: Healthcare giant PureHealth confirmed that US hospital operator Ardent Health Services, in which it holds a 26.05% stake, is planning to IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, the hospital operator said in a bourse filing (pdf).

ICYMI- PureHealth could potentially gain a capital boost of USD 800 mn following Ardent’s stock market debut, which is expected to bring the US hospital operator’s valuation to over USD 5 bn. The share float could see the value of PureHealth’s stake increase to about USD 1.3 bn, with the IPO expected to raise up to USD 500 mn, sources told Bloomberg.

Background: The IHC healthcare subsidiary acquired the minority stake in a transaction valued at AED 1.8 bn in May 2023.

#3- Emirates Airlines is hopeful that ongoing talks between the UAE and China will open doors for the Gulf carrier to expand its footprint in China, Orhan Abbas, Emirates’ senior vice president for operations in the Far East, told Bloomberg. The carrier wants to increase operations beyond the current limit of 35 weekly flights, Abbas said, without specifying the exact number of additional flights and routes Emirates aims to operate beyond China’s three largest cities.

DATA POINT-

#1- Dubai International Airport was confirmed the second most visited airport in the word in 2023, with Atlanta topping the leaderboard, according to a press release from Airports Council International (ACI). ACI had already said the airport jumped to second place in its preliminary ranking in April, adding that it moved up from fifth place in 2022.

Carriers saw some 8.7 bn passengers fly in 2023, up 30.5% y-o-y compared to 2022, indicating a 94.2% recovery of global passenger travel from pre-pandemic data in 2019.

#2- Equity and equity-related issuance in the MENA region hit USD 16.5 bn in 1H 2024, representing a near 3x y-o-y increase and the highest during the period since 2008, according to data from LSEG’s Deals Intelligence picked up by Zawya.

The number of new issuances increased 19% y-o-y, with IPOs comprising 22% of activity, while follow-on issuance made up the remaining 78%. Energy and power was the most active sector, accounting for 74% (or USD 12.3 bn) of total equity capital raising, followed by the consumer products and services sector, comprising 8%.

Follow-on offerings raised a record USD 13 bn, led by Saudi Aramco’s USD 11.2 bn stock sale and Adnoc Drilling’s 5.5% stake sale to investors in May, which raised USD 934.5 mn.

ICYMI- GCC IPOs’ proceeds fell 32% y-o-y to USD 3.6 bn in 1H 2024, with the UAE raising some USD 1.3 bn from three IPOs, accounting for 37% of total IPO proceeds in the GCC

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

It’s another day dominated by a mixed bag of news in the foreign press, with more updates from Trump and Biden’s presidential campaigns and the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks, and news of new faces helming major international banks.

IN THE US-

#1- President Joe Biden was hit with another blow after testing positive for covid-19 and being forced to isolate, the White House confirmed yesterday. In the meantime, Biden is still grasping on straws to keep his candidacy, with a veer to the left in his policy seeing him promise to erase medical debt, cap rent hikes, and impose restraints on the Supreme Court, Bloomberg reports.

#2- Former President Donald Trump sent tech stocks plunging yesterday after taking a dig at Taiwan — a key chip maker — to say it should pay for US defense, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Nasdaq fell 2.8% to log its worst day since 2022.

#3- HAPPENING NOW- Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, is set to make his debut at the Republican National Convention, where the topic of the day is foreign policy and the war in Gaza.

IN THE BUSINESS PRESS-

#1- HSBC appointed Lebanese-born Georges Elhedery, who has served as group CFO since January 2023, as group CEO effective 2 September. Elhedery — who has had nearly two decades of experience at the bank, mainly in the Middle East and Africa — succeeds Noel Quinn, who resigned earlier this year. WSJ, Reuters, and the Financial Times are all out with profiles on Elhedery.

#2- Meanwhile, Brookfield could see 36-year-old Connor Teskey become its next b’naire CEO, who current CEO Bruce Flatt has been training to take on the role, Bloomberg writes in its big take.

CLOSER TO HOME- The latest round of Israel and Hamas’ ceasefire talks are facing four sticking points: Whether Israel will keep its demands to bar Hamas from northern Gaza, whether Israel will be handed control over a key southern border corridor, which hostages will be released, and the commitment to a permanent ceasefire, Bloomberg writes.

On another note: The Emmys’ nominations are out, with Netflix topping networks and FX shows Shogun and The Bear racking up dozens of nominations.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Jiu-Jitsu competition Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship (ADXC 5) will return to Abu Dhabi on 2 August at the Mubadala Arena, Wam reports.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

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