THIS MORNING: IPO plans cool for Dubai Holding and EGA + More UAE, Syria collaboration is on the way

Good morning, friends, and happy hump day. It’s yet another news dump day for you this morning, with a massive new real estate megaproject in Abu Dhabi, a fresh investment from Mubadala in an offshore UK wind farm, and a Sharjah Islamic Bank rights issue.

Plus: We now know that the Habshan Gas Complex will likely not return to full capacity before next year, and exactly how much damage the war has done to Adnoc Gas’ exports in 1Q 2026 — 20%, to be exact.

The war has also left its mark on some of the UAE’s retail giants and manufacturers — namely Lulu Retail and RAK Ceramics — as we report in this morning’s earnings watch. All this and more in the news well, below.

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PSA

Start planning the getaway: Federal government employees are set for a nine-day Eid Al Adha break after the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources announced on X that public sector entities will be closed from Monday, 25 May, through Friday, 29 May, with official working hours resuming on Monday, 1 June.

We’re still waiting for confirmation on the private sector holiday, though both sectors are typically granted the same number of public holiday days under the UAE’s unified calendar.

Students are getting a similarly lengthy pause: Dubai private schools will close from Monday, 25 May, through Sunday, 31 May, with classes resuming on Monday, 1 June, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority said in a post on X.

WEATHER- It’s going to be slightly cooler in Abu Dhabi today, with a high of 36°C and a low of 25°C, while Dubai will see a high of 38°C and a low of 28°C.

Watch this space

M&A WATCH — Dubai Holding becomes Emaar’s largest shareholder: Dubai Holding completed the acquisition of a 22.27% stake in real estate developer Emaar Properties from the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), according to a press release. The holding firm now has a 29.73% stake, making it the largest shareholder in the developer.

While the financial terms were not disclosed, Bloomberg estimated the transferred stake to be worth roughly AED 23.9 bn (USD 6.5 bn) based on Emaar’s latest closing price. The news comes on the heels of the developer’s strong 1Q earnings, with a 38% y-o-y bottom-line uptick to AED 6.4 bn.

A reshuffle rather than a takeover: The decision is more like “a government-level restructuring rather than a commercial transaction, as the ultimate ownership remains within the Dubai government,” CI Capital’s Marlene Milad told the business information service.

The real estate firm has been aggressively leaning into its real estate, hospitality, and retail verticals, selling its holding in district cooling firm Empower earlier this year to Dewa, while expanding its European luxury hospitality footprint with Jumeirah Mallorca and doubling down on an AED 38 bn residential JV with Aldar.

CAPITAL MARKETS — The takeover comes as its wider IPO plans cool, with preparations paused on Dubai Holding’s plans to list its retail assets, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times. The sources cited the war-induced hit to the tourism industry as behind the pushback. Inbound arrivals could contract by as much as 27% y-o-y this year, despite government efforts to prop up the sector.

ICYMI- We previously reported that the firm was exploring plans to list its commercial and residential property units on the DFM this year, in a plan that would bundle the commercial assets into a separate entity and its residential units into a REIT (which it already floated last year).

Emirates Global Aluminium’s (EGA) much-anticipated IPO has also been pushed back to at least next year, a source familiar with the matter told the FT. EGA had started investor meetings before the war, when one of its smelters suffered severe damage during the conflict. The IPO was expected to be valued at USD 10-15 bn.

REFRESHER- We’ve already reported that the war has put the brakes on dealmaking in the region, from IPOs to M&A, amid a climate of heightened uncertainty. Total equity capital markets proceeds were down 91% y-o-y in 1Q, and only four IPOs made it to market, down from 12 the year before. Local equity markets are still trading below prewar highs, with Dubai down around 9% and Abu Dhabi roughly 7%, the FT reported.

It’s more of a “wait-and-see” than “all [wagers] are off.” However, Kapil Jobanputra, founder of Elaeo Partners, told the FT that processes are “broadly on hold” as investors reassess risk and valuation. Analysts also told us the region’s fundamentals were still intact and had proved its resilience before.

IPO WATCH — Across the pond, however, activity is holding up. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority-backed firm power equipment maker Innio is heading for an IPO on the US’ Nasdaq, Bloomberg reports, citing filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Innio is also backed by US private equity firm Advent.

Advent could seek a valuation of around USD 15 bn for the Munich-based company, people familiar with the matter told the business information service. The company will continue to be controlled by an entity backed by both shareholders after the IPO, the filing shows.

Why now? Despite closing out 1Q USD 7.2 mn in the red, the listing plan points to confidence in continued investor interest in firms linked to the AI boom. Innio manufactures gas engines, and its Jenbacher technology has been used to power data centers in Europe.

ADVISORS- JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs are joint lead bookrunning managers for the offering. BofA Securities, Barclays, Citigroup, Baird, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank Securities, RBC Capital Markets, and UBS Investment Bank are bookrunners. Crédit Agricole, Erste Group, UniCredit, Academy Securities, and Drexel Hamilton are serving as co-managers.

SUPPLY CHAINS — Commodity supply chain investments incoming? DP World and ADQ-backed agribusiness Al Dahra are eyeing fresh investments in port and logistics infrastructure, cold chain and warehousing solutions, and agri-food processing hubs as part of a wider push to support end-to-end food and agricultural commodity supply chains across the GCC, according to a statement. The agreement will also give Al Dahra access to sourcing corridors across Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas.

Why it matters: The UAE imports around 85-90% of its food, making resilient sourcing, storage, and distribution capacity a strategic pressure point — especially now, amid ongoing supply chain disruptions, with the Strait of Hormuz still closed. Some 70% of the region’s food imports go through the strait, which has forced logistics players to resort to trucking and air freight to plug the gap.

TRADE — More UAE-Syria cooperation on the way? The UAE and Syria inked dozens of agreements spanning infrastructure, tourism, construction, and logistics during a bilateral investment forum in Damascus, Reuters reports.

UAE-Syria trade hit a record USD 1.4 bn last year, up 132% from the year before, Foreign Trade Minister Thani Al Zeyoudi said. Last year, Al Zeyoudi said the UAE was open to launching comprehensive economic partnership agreement negotiations with Syria. Apart from trade, Emirati players have been steadily getting involved in Syria’s reconstruction efforts.

Next up: The two sides will set out a roadmap to implement the agreements when a Syrian delegation visits the UAE in the coming period.

REGULATION — Smoother infrastructure approvals ahead: The Abu Dhabi Projects and Infrastructure Center (Adpic) unveiled an infrastructure governance framework to streamline approvals and speed up delivery of capital projects, Wam reports. The new system will expedite the issuance of No-Objection Certificates.

Who’s calling the shots? The framework entails establishing a joint committee chaired by Adpic and comprising representatives from 14 government entities with the objective of eliminating approval bottlenecks.

Data point

USD 4.4 tn — that’s the value of assets managed by eight major global financial institutions who unveiled plans to set up shop in Abu Dhabi last month, according to a statement.

The big story abroad

Today’s papers are buzzing with business updates. US inflation hit a three-year high in April, coming in at 3.8% thanks to the war-triggered rise in energy prices.

Wall Street is unsettled by these figures. Investors are wagering on continued inflation growth, expecting average annual inflation to level out at 2.7% over the next five years. Investors are hedging against this risk by trading standard US treasuries alongside treasury inflation-protected securities.

But US stock markets don’t seem rattled by the (seemingly endless) conflict. The S&P 500 has been hitting fresh high after fresh high, most recently crossing the 7.4k mark for the very first time at Monday’s close, even as oil prices stayed elevated. Some suggest the US market remains resilient against the Hormuz blockade due to oil independence and strong tech earnings as key drivers of investor confidence.

Markets will be closely watching the Trump-Xi summit. US President Donald Trump is kicking off his visit to Beijing today, during which he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss trade relations and the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz.

GameStop’s eBay takeover is a no go: Online marketplace eBay turned down GameStop’s USD 56 bn acquisition bid, expressing concerns over financing and leverage, the video game retailer’s governance, and operational risks of the combined entity. GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has been courting GCC sovereign wealth funds to bridge the equity gap for the transaction.

In the AI world, Anthropic is in early negotiations to raise over USD 30 bn in new funding, paving the way for its largest funding round yet. The round is expected to wrap up by the end of May, one source told Bloomberg.

JPMorgan Chase has pushed further into the crypto world, submitting paperwork to set up its second tokenized money market fund. The entity plans to issue digital tokens on the ETH blockchain to represent shares in its portfolio of treasuries and repurchase agreements.

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