THIS MORNING: Fertiglobe is eyeing overseas acquisitions + the T-sukuk market stays busy

Good morning, everyone, and happy Friday. The UAE is going global on hospitality, even as homegrown developers keep launching mega-projects against the grain of a fragmented real estate market in Dubai.

UAE investors are ramping up their overseas hospitality wagers, from UK golf resorts to Egypt’s North Coast, shifting from passive property ownership to hospitality plays combining real estate upside with recurring income.

Back on home turf, some of Dubai’s biggest developers are pushing ahead with mega-project launches just as 2Q is showing signs of a fragmented real estate market, with transactions down 19% q-o-q. Fresh from its export diversification plans, Fertiglobe is now eyeing overseas acquisitions, and Taqa taps the blue bond market.

It’s also a big day on the earnings front, with the likes of Mashreq, Adnoc Drilling, Aldar, ADIB, and Tecom all posting their results.

WEATHER- Temperatures today will hit 45°C in Dubai with an overnight low of 34°C, and 45°C in Abu Dhabi before cooling to an overnight low of 32°C, according to our favorite weather app.

Fertiglobe eyes overseas M&A

Fertiglobe is eyeing overseas acquisitions as it aims to expand beyond its core ammonia and urea business, CEO Ahmed El Hoshy told AGBI. The company is assessing potential investments in North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Western Australia, and the US, where abundant shale gas could provide competitively priced feedstock. The Adnoc-backed fertilizer producer — which already operates production facilities in the UAE, Egypt, and Algeria — remains “relatively selective,” El Hoshy said, without disclosing investment timelines.

Moving downstream at home: Fertiglobe is also considering plants in the UAE that would convert more of its ammonia into higher-value fertilizers and chemicals rather than exporting it as raw material. “There’s an entire downstream journey that we’re very upstream of right now,” El Hoshy said.

BACKGROUND- Fertiglobe is diversifying UAE export routes to maintain fertilizer shipments during a prolonged Hormuz closure. El Hoshy previously said that the company continued operations by trucking fertilizer cargoes overland to ports outside Hormuz before loading them onto ships. The company exported volumes equivalent to 56% of its UAE production during 2Q despite the logistical constraints.

Gulf aviation recovery back on ice?

International carriers are extending flight suspensions across the Middle East after a fresh round of US-Iran strikes upended a fragile recovery, according to the National. Carriers including Air France, KLM, and British Airways have extended suspensions or reduced services to Dubai, Riyadh, Doha, and Tel Aviv, and other Middle East destinations, with some cuts made permanent.

Market fees get a trim

The UAE Capital Market Authority’s (CMA) board has scrapped 15 fees after reviewing its fee framework, state news agency Wam reports. The abolished fees cover a range of services and activities under the authority’s supervision, with the exact services and implementation details set out in the board resolution, which licensed firms have been asked to review.

The rationale: The move is meant to lower costs and simplify services for licensed companies and individuals — part of the CMA’s broader effort to make market activity easier without easing supervision. Earlier this year, it expanded its remit and rolled out a new virtual assets framework, bringing trading, custody, advisory, portfolio management, and platform activity under tighter oversight.

AED debt stays busy

The UAE’s July Treasury sukuk and bond auctions drew AED 4.83 bn in bids for a combined AED 1.1 bn issuance, state news agency Wam reports. That implies 4.4x oversubscription across the AED-denominated T-sukuk maturing in October 2027 and the T-bond tranche maturing in January 2031.

The pricing: The October 2027 T-sukuk cleared at a 4.49% yield to maturity, pricing 24 bps above comparable US Treasuries. The January 2031 T-bond cleared at 4.48%, pricing 4 bps above comparable US Treasuries. The auction adds more depth to the UAE’s AED yield curve, giving investors another local low-risk instrument and issuers a stronger domestic pricing benchmark.

Dubai records 161k new residents in 1H

161k — that’s the number of new residents that came to Dubai in 1H, bringing the emirate’s total population to over 4.7 mn at the end of the period, Khaleej Times reports, citing data from the Dubai Population Clock.

The stats follow on from last year’s momentum, during which the population grew 7.5% to 4.6 mn. However, Savills recently predicted that population growth in the emirate would moderate to around 2% this year, down from 4.1% in 2022.

The big story abroad

Earnings season is leading the conversation in the global business press this morning, as Apple and Amazon released their earnings overnight.

Amazon’s 2Q 2026 net income jumped 244% y-o-y to USD 62.6 bn, with revenues outstripping analyst expectations to come in at USD 200.6 bn, up 19.6% y-o-y, according to its earnings release.

Apple also saw its revenues coming in above estimates for its fiscal third quarter at USD 109.4 bn, up 16% y-o-y, while net income was USD 29.8 bn for the quarter, it said in its earnings. The earnings — Tim Cook’s final set as Apple’s CEO — disappointed, however, as the company pointed to a muted forecast as chipmaking supply chains present a bottleneck.

In non-business news, the story making the rounds is US President Donald Trump’s announcement that Hamas has agreed to a disarmament plan that will see the group cede control of Gaza in exchange for Israel also withdrawing from the strip. While neither Hamas nor Israel appear to have commented on or confirmed the plan, the agreement — brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey — is reportedly planned as a phased withdrawal and disarmament.

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