Good morning, lovely people, and happy FRIDAY. We close out the week with yet another busy issue, with more investment and M&A news. Topping our coverage this morning is Magnati and Network International’s merger, which is inching closer to completion after receiving regulatory clearance. Plus: BlueFive Capital has closed its debut USD 2 bn equity fund, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is selling its stake in IFCO.

Also: Hiring rose 4% in the UAE in 2Q 2025, the fastest pace in the GCC.

PLUS- First Abu Dhabi Bank’s USD 100 mn digital bond has listed on the ADX, marking the first ever digital bond to trade on the exchange, the ADX said yesterday. The issuance received a credit rating of AA- from S&P Global. There was no information on the pricing of the issuance.

REMEMBER- FAB issued the three-year, USD 100 mn floating rate digital bond, the first of its kind in the Middle East, with the help of lead manager and arranger HSBC. The bond will be accessible through HSBC’s digital assets platform Orion.

AND- Armenia and Azerbaijan hold peace talks in Abu Dhabi: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Abu Dhabi for negotiations on border disputes and potential peace terms, which were described as constructive, Reuters reports. The talks marked their first formal meeting since agreeing to a draft peace agreement. Ahead of the peace talks they met with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss the negotiations, as well as economic cooperation.

WEATHER- It’s going to be another partly cloudy day, with Dubai seeing temperatures rise to 41°C before cooling to an overnight low of 32°C. Over in Abu Dhabi, the mercury peaks at 42°C, with an overnight low of 31°C.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- UAE firms in talks with Morocco over USD 10 bn wind projects: Morocco is engaged in advanced discussions with three major Emirati energy companies — Masdar, Amea Power, and Taqa — over large-scale wind projects in the Sahara Desert, Attaqa quotes sources as saying. The proposed projects could see up to USD 10 bn in investments and would deliver a combined generation capacity of up to 5 GW.

Background: Emirati firms are already investing heavily in the renewables sector in Morocco. In May, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company’s (Taqa) Moroccan arm Taqa Morocco agreed to explore AED 52 bn worth of projects ranging from desalination and water transmission infrastructure to renewable energy and power transmission lines as part of a consortium with Moroccan energy firm Nareva.

#2- Is G42 planning a hyperscale data center in Vietnam? Abu Dhabi state-backed AI firm G42 is reportedly in discussions to establish a hyperscale data center project valued at USD 2 bn, according to an investment proposal sent by local authorities to Vietnam’s prime minister that was picked up by Reuters, Forbes, and the Vietnamese press, citing state media. The project, which would be like an “AI factory” will include data centers and advanced infrastructure for cloud computing and processing.

The who and where: G42 will be part of a consortium of Vietnamese companies — FPT Corporation, VinaCapital Investment Fund, and Viet Thai Investment Group — planning to build the centers in Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s main economic hub.

The caveat: Ho Chi Minh City’s local authorities are asking Vietnam’s Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính to issue a special mechanism for international projects to override legislative and policy hurdles faced by investors.

Not the first Emirati AI venture in Vietnam: Last year, the UAE’s Benya Group and Vietnam’s Vingroup earmarked USD 3.5 bn to develop a hyperscale data center in the Southeast Asian country. The move also comes as part of G42’s domestic and international expansion drive, which is seeing it commit tens of bns USD in the US — as well as develop a 5 GW US-UAE data center complex in Abu Dhabi.

#3- The Zayed National Museum will open its doors to the public this December, according to the Abu Dhabi Media Office. Built in Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Cultural District in honor of late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the museum will feature six permanent galleries, a temporary exhibition space, and a collection spanning 300k years of human history.

#4- An AI chef is coming to a restaurant near you: Woohoo, a new restaurant opening near Burj Khalifa, is putting a large-language model in the kitchen, Reuters reports. Chef Aiman — a model trained on food science data, molecular flavor profiles, and more than 1k global recipes — will design menus which will then be tested and redefined by human chefs before hitting diners’ plates. The restaurant is aiming to open this September and the owners say the model could be licensed and rolled out to other establishments in the future.

#5- The recently inked UAE-Azerbaijan comprehensive economic partnership agreement will reap benefits for the manufacturing, automotive, agriculture, logistics, and financial services sectors, Foreign Trade Minister Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi told state news agency Wam. It will also lay the groundwork for joint logistics infrastructure and upping investments in Azerbaijan’s energy and renewables sectors through Adnoc and Masdar, he added.

Background: The UAE and Azerbaijan inked the agreement — which is expected to contribute USD 680 mn to the Emirates’ GDP by 2031 — two days ago Bilateral non-oil trade between the two countries reached USD 2.2 bn in 2024, up 36.2% y-o-y and accounting for half of Azerbaijan’s total trade with the GCC.

#6- DLD sells first tokenized villa in five minutes: The Dubai Land Department (DLD) sold a two-bedroom villa in Dubailand for AED 1.7 mn through the Prypco Mint platform, with the transaction completed within five minutes of listing, Albayan reports. The sale involved 169 investors from 40 nationalities, each investing an average of AED 10.4k.

ICYMI- This transaction represents the third coded property sale since Dubai launched its real estate tokenization initiative in May. A Damac Maison Prive unit was Dubai’s first tokenized real estate asset that was fully funded within 24 hours of launch.

DATA POINT-

The UAE was the top global sukuk issuer in 1H 2025, bucking the overall market slowdown, with total volumes rising to USD 12.4 bn, up from around USD 9.6 bn a year earlier, Al Etihad reports citing S&P Global Ratings data. Foreign currency-denominated sukuk from the UAE hit USD 9.3 bn, a 29% y-o-y increase, as “banks and corporates tapped the market to finance growth amid a still-supportive economy,” S&P Global said. Green and sustainable sukuk made up USD 1.7 bn of the UAE’s total issuances.

REFRESHER- Global sukuk issuance fell 15% y-o-y to USD 101.3 bn in 1H 2025 as local currency volumes dropped 26%. Foreign currency sukuk rose 9% to USD 41.4 bn, and sustainable sukuk issuance climbed 27% to USD 9.3 bn. S&P expects full-year foreign currency sukuk issuance to reach USD 70-80 bn and sustainable sukuk issuance to hit USD 14-16 bn.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Despite US President Donald Trump’s hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza this week, an agreement is nowhere in sight and more violence ripples across the strip. Some 15 people were killed yesterday as they queued outside of a medical point in Central Gaza, including 10 children. 67 others were killed in airstrikes over the past day.

Trump was still hopeful that a ceasefire agreement is within reach this week or the next, while Qatari officials have cautioned that it could take time as they work through key stumbling blocks. (Guardian | BBC | Reuters)

Over in tariff land, the US has now threatened a 35% tariff on Canada as of next month — up from the initially announced 25% tariff — and a blanket 15-20% tariff on most other trading partners, he told NBC. This would also be a hike from a 10% blanket tariff earlier. He floated a potential agreement with Canada provided it works to stop Fentanyl flows across the border. (CNBC | Reuters | Financial Times)

The US is also now being threatened by Brazil with a reciprocal 50% tariff, threatening another tit-for-tat that could lead to a bigger trade war. This came a day after Trump sent a letter to Brazil saying it intends to apply a 50% tariff on Brazilian exports and criticizing the “witch hunt” against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. (Guardian | NPR)

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MARKET WATCH-

Opec sees oil demand climbing through to 2050: Global oil demand will average 105 mn bbl/d this year, according to Opec’s 2025 World Oil Outlook (pdf). The oil cartel expects demand to grow to 106.3 mn bbl/d in 2026 and then to 111.6 mn bbl/d in 2029, Demand will continue to grow through the mid-century, led by rising use in road transportation, aviation, and petrochemicals.

Demand is set to rise to almost 123 mn bbl/d by 2050, around 3 mn bbl.d higher than the group’s previous forecast. Consumption will increase roughly 9% from 2024 to 2030 — unchanged from last year’s forecast. India alone is expected to contribute an additional 8.2 mn bbl/d in demand by 2050.

Driving the growth: India, the Middle East, and Africa will drive the bulk of the demand growth, while Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement and a slower EV penetration rate in Europe are seen as buoying demand.

Opec+ will capture a larger share of the global oil market by 2050, expanding from around 47% this decade to 52%, as rival producers see growth weaken. The sector needs USD 18.2 tn to be spent by 2050, compared with USD 17.4 tn estimated last year, the group said.

BUT- the cartel’s outlook is contradicting: BP, Bank of America, the International Energy Agency, and Wood Mackenzie, all expect oil demand to peak within the next decade, Bloomberg reports. Many of these them point to slowing consumption in China and accelerating clean energy transitions as key turning points.

Taps at the ready: The UAE could raise its oil production capacity beyond 5 mn bbl/d after 2027 if market conditions warrant it, Reuters quotes Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei as saying. “We can go to 6 mn if the market requires,” he said, though clarified it is not an official target.

REMEMBER- Al Mazrouei said earlier this week that current demand is strong, brushing off surplus concerns. Opec+ raised the UAE’s production quota this year to 3.5 mn barrels per day in 2025, up from the current 2.9 mn, following major capacity investments. The country is aiming to hit 5 mn bbl/d by 2027, up from around 3 mn in recent years. Reaching 6 mn bbl/d would place the UAE just behind the US, Saudi Arabia, and Russia in terms of global oil output.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The International Glass Manufacturing Show will be held in Dubai on 13-15 April 2026, according to a press release. Key glass industry stakeholders attending the event — covering the entire value chain from raw materials to finishing technology — will participate in high-level panel discussions. The event will feature a buy-seller meet for B2B transactions and an awards ceremony to honor industry innovations.

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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