Dubai’s debt and capital markets are coming off of a strong year that saw double-digit index growth, the world’s biggest tech IPO, courtesy of Talabat, and bns in bonds and sukuk listed on Nasdaq Dubai. Despite the global market turmoil following US President Donald Trump’s introduction of a sweeping tariff regime hitting regional markets over the past week, Dubai officials are optimistic about the way forward for both debt and capital markets and the various sectors that have propped them up over the past years — from real estate to financial services.

That was the key takeaway from a session taking place during the EFG Hermes One on One Conference in Dubai yesterday, which saw Hamed Ali, the CEO of DFM and Nasdaq Dubai, and Hadi Badri, the CEO of the Dubai Economic Development Corporation, discuss the future of debt and capital markets in the Dubai and how they tie into the broader growth targets for the emirate.

So, what’s driving this optimism? Long-standing sectors like infrastructure, real estate, and newer ones like tech and virtual assets, all offer huge growth opportunities for investors, while a growing IPO pipeline and increasingly diversified asset base is inviting more activity into the market. The real estate sector alone is exhibiting incredible amounts of growth amid rising demand, most of which is from end-users, Ali said. This has prompted the emirate to think about boosting supply not just on the commercial and luxury residential side, but across sectors — including mid-income housing and affordable healthcare facilities, Badri said.

Capital markets, by the numbers: Dubai has raised AED 45 bn across 10 IPOs over the past two years, with demand coming in excess of AED 1.2 tn, Ali said. Some 137k new investors were added to the DFM last year, 85% of whom were from outside of the UAE, he added. “The IPOs where we’ve had subscriptions [over the past two years] could’ve been oversubscribed just through international demand,” Ali explained.

Ali is “very optimistic” that this IPO momentum will continue this year, with the team looking forward to a “few” transactions.

The focus now is on building up growth sectors, diversifying the capital base, and continuing to improve accessibility to investors. “We’re in talks with 400 companies that could be potential candidates,” Ali said, referencing not only candidates for listing but also those with a positive long-term outlook that could tap capital markets down the line.

One goal for the DFM for the coming year: to offer multiple growth opportunities for companies, be it through private markets, growth markets, or equity and fixed income. The other side of it — which is what makes the DFM stand out, Ali said — is building relationships with companies beyond just the processing of IPO applications. It’s about developing a “mindset” that would allow companies to tap more opportunities on the DFM and explore post-IPO options, whether in the form of follow-on offerings or private placements.

The focus has been on blue chip companies in the past, but demand and IPO oversubscription suggests many other sectors are lucrative, Ali explained. “Those are the companies that will become unicorns over the next 5-10 years,” he added. Long-standing sectors like real estate and infrastructure — which together account for 30% of the DFM’s market cap — are still a core part of the strategy, but growth businesses are now a major target as the Dubai economic agenda for 2033 takes shape.

It’s all about diversification: “Everything we do we think about through a diversification lens,” Badri said. “We want eight sectors to each control a minimum threshold of 5% of GDP by 2033,” he added. These will be a mix of strong sectors like logistics, financial services, and tourism, but the emirate will be targeting new sectors like virtual assets, advanced manufacturing, and proptech and healthtech.

Plus: talent. “[It’s a] simple philosophy: If we bring the world’s best talent, the smartest money will follow,” Badri said.

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