UAE’s two new bets on entertainment IP

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: Adia, Lunate eye a hefty piece of Indian bourse’s USD 2.7 bn IPO + DP World plans truck fleet expansion amid Hormuz disruption

Good morning, everyone. Arabian Travel Market is back in Dubai this week, and the timing couldn’t be better: the city just posted its best month since February, with 869k international visitors arriving in August, and hotel occupancy climbing to 66% — up from just 36% in March. With ATM filling the halls of the Dubai World Trade Center through Thursday and airlines racing to rebuild the routes the war knocked out, tourism is the thread running through today's issue.

Etihad is a case in point. The Abu Dhabi carrier tells us on the sidelines of ATM that it’s now flying 15% more capacity than last year, with planes running about 90% full. Emirates has its own good news too — Germany has finally granted it a long-sought-after fifth Berlin landing slot, on top of winter bookings that are already ahead of last year’s pace.

Beyond travel, entertainment IP investment is having a moment in the UAE, and Abu Dhabi’s India bets keep multiplying. Two funds setting up shop in the UAE this year are betting on entertainment IPs — film scripts, music catalogs, and artist likenesses — as an investable asset, much like real estate before it. We spoke to both CineNow and IPNation about their two very different plays for the emerging asset class.

Space42’s ambitions keep growing too. Its JV with Viasat, named Equatys, is getting up to USD 1 bn in equity backing to build out its direct-to-device satellite venture. Elsewhere on the funding front, Adia and Lunate are weighing anchor allocations in the National Stock Exchange of India’s USD 2.7 bn IPO, and Tabby has reached a USD 6.5 bn valuation.

S&P affirmed Ras Al Khaimah’s sovereign credit rating with a stable outlook, despite trimming its GDP growth forecast.

The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum is less than a month away — and here's some of what’s shaping up on the agenda:

Where AI fits on the list of topics keeping CEOs awake at night
What AI means for your company, your team, your job, and your family
What's the AI opportunity for Egypt
Building the AI infrastructure

And more panels to come.

Join us on 5 October in Cairo. Attendance is by invitation only, and seats are filling up quickly.

Request your invitation here.

Adia + Lunate eye hefty shares in Indian bourse’s USD 2.7 bn IPO

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) and Lunate are considering sizable anchor allocations in India’s National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) much-awaited USD 2.7 bn IPO, Moneycontrol reports, citing unnamed sources. Discussions are ongoing, and allocations have not yet been finalized, but NSE is targeting a valuation as high as USD 46.3 bn, Reuters reports.

Who else is in the running: Domestic insurer LIC and Norway’s Norges Bank are expected to take the top two allocations after the anchor book opens tomorrow, 16 September. Adia and Lunate could be joined by French asset manager Carmignac, Singapore’s GIC, and Fidelity.

Retail investing powerhouse: NSE serves around 257 mn investor accounts and 130 mn unique investors, making it one of the world’s largest retail-focused exchanges. For the financial year ending in March, it reported net income of INR 103 bn (USD 1.1 bn).

IN CONTEXT- The NSE listing has long been awaited by investors after regulatory issues delayed its public-market debut. For Abu Dhabi, the prospect is about owning a slice of the infrastructure through which India’s capital increasingly flows, after backing for Manipal Health Enterprises’ listing, SBI Funds Management, and KRN Heat Exchangers’ institutional placement.

Emirates lands Berlin slot

Germany’s government said this week it has granted “a UAE airline” — which Bloomberg says is Emirates — a fifth landing slot in the country, effective immediately. It caps off decades of lobbying against opposition from Deutsche Lufthansa, which said the move “will shift economic value creation and jobs to the Gulf and further exacerbate the distortion of competition.”

The new flights are capped at seven a week, and Emirates won’t get so-called fifth-freedom rights that would let it use Berlin as a stopover en route to destinations like New York. Emirates currently flies to Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg. The timing lines up with a bigger UAE-Germany push: the UAE announced this week it plans to invest EUR 40 bn (USD 46.5 bn) in Europe's largest economy.

MEANWHILE- Winter demand is up — and then some — for Emirates, the carrier said in a press release. Bookings for destinations like South Africa, Egypt, India, KSA, and Pakistan are up y-o-y for flights from late October onward. Currently, the airline is operating at 93% of its pre-disruption capacity and, together with its partnership with flydubai, has a network of 214 cities.

Emirates carried over 8.6 mn passengers over July and August, and saw its arrivals to Dubai start to outpace last year’s figures in the second half of August — up 7% y-o-y.

Disruption to air travel from the Iran war hasn’t stopped it from expanding its network, launching routes to Benghazi, Aleppo, and Bangkok this year, with launches to Pokhara and Helsinki also in the works.

The trucks are here to stay

DP World plans to expand its regional truck fleet by about 40%, wagering that Gulf shipping disruption through Hormuz will outlast the war, Bloomberg reports, citing Stephen Whittingham, the company’s COO for freight forwarding in Europe. The ports giant wants to take its fleet to 1k trucks from 700 and is adding land routes linking Europe, the US, and Asia to the Persian Gulf.

The rationale: reopening the strait won’t erase the risk. “I think we’ll never get back to the original normal,” Whittingham said. Going overland costs three to four times as much as shipping by sea, but he sees that lingering uncertainty will keep demand for alternative routes like reliable direct trucking alive.

The road network is already carrying business: DP World launched a trucking service from western Europe to the Gulf via Turkey within days of Hormuz closing. It now handles up to 50 trucks a week, mainly carrying automotive parts and everyday consumer goods, alongside separate sea-and-road services for cargo from Asia and the US, also routed through Turkey.

The larger fleet targets ports built to avoid Hormuz altogether, including Fujairah in the UAE, Salalah in Oman, and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Next on the route map would be trucking European cargo to Iraq, then shipping it across the Gulf to the UAE. Talks with Baghdad over a permanent service are ongoing, Whittingham said.

The signal: Trucking had its moment in the crisis — and looks set to keep a bigger role after it. Back in March, we were tracking whether the Gulf could truck its way out — by May, emergency landbridges were operating at scale. The port operator had rerouted more than 350k TEUs overland by July, and this fleet expansion is doubling down on the workaround.

Dubai’s island dreams get a wartime reality check

The war is putting fresh strain on Dubai’s World Islands, with Kleindienst Group — developer of the USD 6 bn Heart of Europe project — reportedly laying off staff and facing lawsuits from investors and laid-off employees, according to the Financial Times, which cites people familiar with the matter and court documents. The off-grid development is also grappling with weaker international tourism and higher diesel costs.

Kleindienst rejects any suggestion the project isn't viable, with founder Josef Kleindienst saying occupancy climbed from 27% in March to 56% in May, and 80% is now the target in the coming weeks. The group still plans to open five hotels by 2027.

IN CONTEXT- The World Islands — Dubai’s man-made archipelago shaped like a map of the globe — had been seeing a renewed development push after years of delays, with new villas, hotels, and residential projects across the islands. The war has since exposed fresh cracks. We reported in April that Anantara World Islands had shut, while Heart of Europe had switched its focus toward staycations as international demand weakened.

The pressure is broader than one archipelago or even one developer. Sobha and Azizi have each cut hundreds of jobs since the war began, the FT reports, citing people familiar with the matter, while Dubai's overall housing market remains down 10% since fighting started, even with a pickup in sales in June. That tracks with what we've been seeing: a widening split in Dubai's housing market, with 2Q transactions down 19% q-o-q and new launches collapsing to 5.3k units from 45k in 1Q.

WATCH THIS SPACE- Regulators, meanwhile, have been informally warning larger developers they may need to absorb smaller, cash-strapped rivals as the war accelerates consolidation, according to people familiar with the matter.

Data point

91.3k — that’s how many new companies were established in the UAE in 1H 2026, Economy and Tourism Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri told Al Bayan. The additions helped bring the number of active companies to nearly 1.2 mn by end-July, roughly double the c. 550k registered before the UAE opened up to 100% foreign ownership. Bin Touq says the government now expects to hit its 2 mn company target earlier than planned.

The rise comes after years of easing ownership and setup rules. We previously noted that changes to the Commercial Companies Law helped expand foreign ownership and were among the reforms cited for strengthening the UAE’s entrepreneurship environment.

The pipeline is broad: ADGM added 961 licenses in 1Q to reach 13.4k active licenses, while Sharjah issued 4.6k new licenses in 1H, up 5% y-o-y. DIFC has also surpassed 10k registered companies.

PSA

WEATHER- Temperatures today will hit 40°C in Dubai with an overnight low of 31°C, and 41°C in Abu Dhabi before cooling to an overnight low of 30°C, according to our favorite weather app.

Happening today

Al Sharaa to speak at Dubai media conference: The Arab Media Summit 2026 kicks off today at the Dubai World Trade Centre, featuring a keynote address by Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa. The three-day summit will feature over 175 sessions with international media executives, senior officials, and prominent journalists from 23 countries to discuss the future of global media.

The big story abroad

AI-linked stocks around the world dropped on Monday after industry leaders warned of potential dire consequences of rapid AI development. Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dropped to a six-week low driven by a chip stock selloff before paring losses to 0.4%, while the Dow shed 152 points. Nvidia slid 3.4% — weighed down by its sheer market size — despite soaring profits driven by AI chip demand.

More climate cuts: The Trump administration will cut Biden-era climate rules limiting greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants by forcing coal- and gas-fired power sites to use technologies like carbon capture. The Environmental Protection Agency — which stands to save more than USD 300 bn through the measure — argued that global greenhouse gas harms are too remote and uncertain to tie to US power plants, placing them outside Clean Air Act authority.

East-West mineral race: The Pentagon will acquire a near-20% stake in Elmet Group through a USD 450 mn investment, expanding the Trump administration’s push to secure critical mineral supplies outside China. The move aims to boost domestic manufacturing of tungsten — a key metal used in military hardware — and expand long-term access to feedstock, sending Elmet's shares surging up to 55%.

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Investors are circling the region’s undermonetized IP

In the UAE, there’s another option coming onto the scene for investors: your favorite song or film. Two funds setting up shop in the UAE this year are looking at entertainment intellectual property (IP) — film scripts, music catalogs, artist likenesses — as an investable asset, the way real estate already has. One wants to buy the Arabic catalog that already exists and make it work harder. The other wants to manufacture new IP from nothing and use the UAE as its production base.

REFRESHER- CineNow set up its HQ in the UAE last month as part of its push to turn IP from India’s cinema industry into a tokenized asset, targeting a USD 150 mn fund, with 60% of that already raised in a first round. Meanwhile, UAE-based IPNation is launching an investment platform focusing on Arabic music and entertainment IP — taking iconic, already-existing Arabic music catalogs and making them work harder through better collection, distribution, and reactivation — in the MENA region, with a USD 100 mn target investment size.

The undervalued catalog

IPNation’s thesis is that Arabic IP is undermonetized. “MENA remains under-institutionalized compared with the US, Europe, and parts of Asia,” IPNation’s co-founder and CEO José María Dot says. “There are major global funds focused on music rights elsewhere, but the region still lacks a scaled platform dedicated to acquiring and managing iconic local catalogs.” Consumption, he argues, was never the hard part: Arabic music “has always traveled” — what’s been missing is the infrastructure to collect around it and reinvest.

Reactivation is the growth lever once a catalog is secured — remixes, sync placements, brand campaigns, live experiences. Dot’s favorite proof point is ABBA Voyage, the hologram-residency show that contributed a reported USD 2.1 bn to the UK economy through the end of last year — evidence that a mature catalog’s ceiling isn’t fixed. On the investor side, IPNation is pitching a hybrid case rather than a pure yield play: “infrastructure-like recurring cashflows” from mature catalogs, paired with “private equity-style upside” from active management.

Building the ecosystem, not just the fund

CineNow is more of a manufacturer. It uses investor capital to create IP that doesn’t exist yet, then tokenizes the fund that owns it. Unproven IP doesn’t scare CineNow Director Rohit Dalmia the way it might a traditional financier. The risk of backing something unreleased, he says, is already priced into what CineNow pays, leaving early entry, broader rights, and franchise upside as the reward.

Where CineNow's UAE pitch gets more interesting is what it asks producers to do in return for financing — not simply take the money and go make a film in India. “We’re also requiring all the producers who work with us to set up shop here with economic substance,” Dalmia says, “because we’re not giving them financing in India — we’re giving them financing locally here.” He frames it as wealth creation distinct from ordinary capital attraction: “That’s not capital, that’s not expenses or cashflows — that’s wealth.”

The pitch appears to be landing with local authorities. Dalmia says CineNow has been in advanced talks with the Dubai Media Council and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office to secure a formal government-backed partnership, hopefully by the end of this month.

But how do you tokenize a creative asset?

The key question CineNow is asking: “How do you discover the price of an IP?” Tokenization is meant to solve that through supply and demand. Dalmia says: “Every time a film does well, the token values are going to go up. Every time a film does badly, it could either come down or just hold. That’s showing demand for that IP.” David Bintliff, a Greenberg Traurig shareholder specializing in media, entertainment, and technology law, frames the same problem from the regulatory side: “Valuation should match the interest being offered,” shaped by factors including “audience demand, distribution [agreements], and rights expiry,” in addition to “disputes, infringement, and discount rates.”

The first step ahead of tokenization is “establishing exactly what is owned by whom, for how long, and in which territories,” Dalmia says. Then, it moves on to developing an investment structure to organize these rights and establish how revenues are collected, how costs are recovered, and how proceeds are distributed. “The token itself does not magically create value. Its value ultimately comes from the underlying contractual rights and the revenues generated by the IP,” he tells us.

Buying a token, Bintliff says, “does not, of itself, transfer the copyright or [statutory] title in the underlying creative work” — what a holder actually gets depends entirely on what’s written into the token’s terms, which “can range from personal display only to broad rights to commercialize and create derivative works.” His go-to example: buyers of NBA Top Shot collectibles get limited rights to the associated footage, not ownership of the footage itself.

What gets tokenized is the fund, not the IP itself. Investors are “seeding us with capital to create IP” — “locking in the script, the cast, the crew, and a bit of pre-production” — with an exit that comes later, when “the token holders come in like an IPO.” The model is built for sustainability too: “It's not about one fund in six years. Capital keeps coming, returns keep happening, and investors redeploy into seeding the next set of IPs,” Dalmia says. “It becomes a cyclical model.”

Where the law stands

Bintliff's read on the region: real progress, not full maturity. “Singapore, Switzerland, the UK, and the UAE stand out” globally on tokenization regulation, he says, and “the UAE in particular has taken significant steps on the regulation and infrastructure to support tokenization.” But regulatory progress and certainty aren’t the same thing — whether a given token is treated as a security, a fund unit, or something else “requires a case-specific analysis.”

On IPNation’s side of the ledger, the relevant infrastructure isn’t tokenization law but collection: Dot points to the UAE’s newly licensed Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) — Emirates Music Rights Association (EMRA), and Music Nation — as “important steps toward a more investable rights economy.”

Both are recent: EMRA became the UAE’s first-ever licensed CMO in April 2025, a nonprofit authorized to collect and distribute royalties on the public performance, broadcast, and streaming use of music on behalf of composers, performers, and producers. Music Nation followed two months later as a second, commercially run option, with partnerships already in place with global rights bodies BMI and SoundExchange. Bintliff’s caveat there applies regardless of structure — CMOs are “well established” but still catching up to any form of pooled, investor-facing rights income: “the challenge is connecting reliable royalty reporting and payment systems to enforceable investor entitlements.”

When it comes to disputes, “novel structures can raise unresolved questions about the relationship between the token and the underlying rights,” Bintliff tells us. However, “clear underlying documents, verified title, and a workable enforcement route materially improve the position,” he says.

What’s next

The age of streaming: “Streaming has changed the investment profile of music and entertainment assets by making demand more visible,” Dot tells us. Rights owners and investors now have more visibility into audience engagement and demand, helping to flag untapped potential, he says. For film, it has increased both audience access routes and options for monetization, Dalmia says.

AI cuts the other way: With so-called AI creators already boasting of full films made with zero human input, Dot argues scarcity holds the real value. “In an environment where anyone can generate sound, timeless music becomes more scarce [...] the value sits in catalogs with history, loyal audiences, and cultural weight,” he says.

The bottom line: “With the correct rights infrastructure, capital, and active management, the region can turn [its cultural] influence into lasting economic value,” Dot says.

Space42 + Viasat back their space telecom utility with USD 1 bn

The push on the UAE’s space sector is showing no signs of slowing down, with another big-ticket investment helping move things along. This time, the joint venture between ADX-listed space tech firm Space42 and US satellite operator Viasat is getting as much as USD 1 bn in equity backing, as per an ADX disclosure (pdf).

What’s new? Equatys was originally announced in March 2025, with more details on the global direct-to-device (D2D) mobile services JV following in September of that year. It’s billed as a venture to link satellite and terrestrial networks for standard smartphones and IoT devices. Now, they’ve inked an agreement to formally establish the JV and are committing up to USD 1 bn to the project.

The funding breakdown: Each co-founder will commit USD 400 mn, and Space42 will add another USD 200 mn in a future funding round with outside investors. In the end, the co-founders see the JV as being funded by a mix of their own equity, debt financing, and third-party capital.

A refresher on the pitch: The shared space-and-ground infrastructure platform is designed to extend mobile coverage into areas terrestrial networks cannot economically reach, with roaming across different countries and regions. Equatys will use a ‘tower company’ model, meaning that operators share infrastructure while retaining their own customers and commercial relationships. The structure will also reduce capital requirements for operators.

First up is an initial satellite constellation, which could eventually scale to 2.8k satellites across 60 orbital planes and three altitude layers. Viasat is set to be the JV’s prime tech contractor. Smartphones, IoT devices, and other terminals will connect directly to satellites.

More to run? The venture leaves room for regional space industries to participate in hardware manufacturing and tech development. Back in September of last year, the commercial rollout was targeted within three years.

IN CONTEXT- The space sector has seen an active few months following on from targets to double its revenues by 2030. While localization has definitely been a focus, through the Eshara segment and the national Earth observation hub, recent moves have also included a distinctly international angle. UAE-based Marlan Space and Loft Orbital, through their Orbitworks joint venture, are leading a consortium investing USD 1 bn to build Altair-Next Gen, a 50-satellite AI-enabled constellation, with partners spanning both France (Mistral, MaiaSpace) and the US (BlackSky). Space42 has also been clear about its ambitions to scale up revenues from its international business.

S&P affirms Ras Al Khaimah’s A/A-1 rating, trims 2026 growth forecast on Middle East war spillovers

S&P Global Ratings affirmed its A/A-1 long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings for Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), with a stable outlook, the agency said. S&P also kept RAK’s AA+ transfer and convertibility assessment unchanged.

The rationale behind the rating: S&P expects RAK’s government to stick to prudent fiscal and economic policies and protect its large net asset position, even as growth and revenue risks stay elevated. It also expects its fiscal buffers to help it maneuver through adverse geopolitical shocks or a weaker growth environment.

The base case: The UAE’s fiscal, economic, external, and policy flexibility is expected to cushion the whole federation — RAK included — against the fallout of regional conflict, and the federal government is expected to step in with extraordinary financial support for RAK if ever needed.

Growth gets trimmed for 2026: S&P now sees RAK’s real GDP growth slowing to 1.8% this year, down from its earlier 2% forecast, after an estimated 5.7% expansion in 2025. Growth is expected to average 2.4% across 2026-2027 before rebounding to an average of 3.8% in 2028-2029, supported by tourism and infrastructure projects including Wynn Al Marjan Island, set to open late next year after pushing back its opening date due to supply chain disruptions.

The war is the swing factor: RAK’s trade- and hospitality-heavy economy is exposed to spillovers from the Middle East war — from disrupted trade routes to weaker tourism, transport, real estate, and manufacturing activity. S&P’s base case assumes continued shipping volatility tied to bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz and the risk of localized clashes, and it flagged the risk of re-escalation as very high.

By the sector

The offsets: Inter-Gulf demand has propped up manufacturing, mining, and construction, while a pickup in domestic tourism has partly made up for fewer international visitors. S&P said it can’t rule out a longer-term hit to tourist arrivals, exports, and real estate demand if security risks persist, adding that a lasting recovery hinges on the war being resolved.

Tourism numbers are still climbing, just more slowly: RAK drew about 1.4 mn visitors in 2025, up 5.7% y-o-y. In the first half of 2026, arrivals reached 670k, up 3% y-o-y, with UAE domestic visitors making up roughly 72% of the total as international arrivals were held back by limited flight routes.

Real estate has cooled: Developers have pared back new residential launches to support valuations as investors turn more cautious, and S&P doesn’t expect projects to resume in earnest until early 2027, with the possibility of more lasting damage to demand.

But mining is a bright spot: The sector — anchored by government-owned Stevin Rock, one of the world’s largest limestone quarrying operations — accounted for about 15% of exports and 30% of GDP before the war. First-half 2026 performance was solid on higher prices and steady volumes, with local sales rising to 63% of total sales (from 60% a year earlier) as exports redirected toward Kuwait and Qatar following disruption to trade with India and Bangladesh.

On the fiscal side, S&P is forecasting a smaller surplus of about 1% of GDP this year, down from 6.1% in 2025, before surpluses climb to an average of 3.8% of GDP over 2027-2029 as corporate tax, gaming tax, and hospitality-linked revenue come online from 2027, and Marjan starts paying dividends from 2028. Total government expenditure is projected to average about 13% of GDP over 2026-2027, up from 9.6% in 2025, largely on higher capital spending tied to tourism infrastructure.

Etihad Airways is doubling down on investments and targeting break-even, despite this year’s disruptions

Abu Dhabi flag carrier Etihad Airways is flying 15% more than last year, despite headwinds like geopolitical disruptions and rising costs, Chief Revenue and Commercial Officer Arik De tells EnterpriseAM on the sidelines of Arabian Travel Market. That’s a step up from the airline's previously published figure of 10% more summer capacity y-o-y, disclosed in June. Etihad's planes are running at roughly 90% full, De says.

IN CONTEXT- It has been an unforgiving year for Gulf aviation. The Iran war forced airlines across the region to reroute, spiking fuel costs and grounding flights outright. The International Air Transport Association expects Middle Eastern carriers to post a combined loss this year, the only region forecast to be unprofitable in 2026. Emirates and Qatar Airways both pulled back summer capacity in response.

Etihad Airways did the opposite. The Abu Dhabi carrier added more than 20 aircraft to its fleet this year, pushed ahead with new routes across Europe, Africa, and China, and is now targeting break-even for the full year — a goal first flagged by CEO Antonoaldo Neves earlier this year in an interview with CNBC. It also held rates this year, Neves told The National, with around 320 flights operating a day — a number it plans to increase by 25% by the end of next year to about 400 flights.

More incoming: The carrier expects to take delivery of 15 new aircraft by December as part of its expansion plans, Neves told Asharq Business. It invests around USD 3.5 bn annually into its fleet and aims to break even in 2026, Neves said.

That’s thanks to the airline’s strong track record over the past few years, which gave it a strong balance sheet and put it in a “good financial position to weather any short-term challenges,” De adds. The airline reported record earnings last year, with income after tax rising 47% y-o-y to AED 2.6 bn and total revenue increasing 21% to AED 30.7 bn.

That also means none of its expansion plans have changed. “We're not shying away from any investment because we see a very strong vision for demand, not only in the UAE but also in the region,” De explains. “As long as we keep our focus and our head down, I think we'll achieve our goals faster... we tweak things around the edges — when things work better, we double down on it. When things don't work well, we don't have the ego, we just walk away from it,” he adds, referring to the airline’s vision for 2030.

Tabby’s valuation reaches USD 6.5 bn following USD 233 mn funding round

MENA’s most valuable fintech just got more valuable. Tabby raised USD 233 mn at a USD 6.5 bn valuation in a Series F round led by Hong Kong’s Blue Pool Capital, with existing backers HSG, Wellington Management, and Arbor Ventures taking part, the company said in a statement. Tabby was last valued at USD 4.5 bn at its last share sale in October 2025.

“The proceeds are primarily about giving us the capital to go deeper in our two core markets,” CEO and co-founder Hosam Arab tells Reuters, referring to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Part of the round also provides liquidity to employees, extending share tenders Tabby has run since 2023, which have facilitated more than USD 100 mn in share sales.

The raise also funds Tabby’s move from its BNPL core into full financial services. Over the past year, the firm secured consumer and SME finance licenses from the Saudi Central Bank (Sama), enabling it to offer larger, longer-term consumer financing alongside working capital for businesses. It also acquired Tweeq, a Sama-licensed digital wallet, adding accounts, cards, and transfers. In the UAE, a Stored Value Facilities license from the central bank lets it run TabbyCash, a zero-fee alternative to a debit account with cashback and money transfers.

No rush to IPO: Arab tells Reuters Tabby is focused on scaling its core and newer products rather than timing a listing. “We are profitable and well capitalized, so fortunately we do not need to force the timing,” he says. “If and when we list, we’ll choose the market that makes the most sense.”

The scale behind the number: Tabby has been profitable since 2023 and processes more than USD 18 bn in annualized transaction volume across 25 mn registered users and 70k business partners, including Amazon and Shein.

Burjeel names transformation lead as CFO

Burjeel Holdings has appointed Reuben George Joseph (LinkedIn) as CFO, effective 1 October, the company said (pdf). Joseph is currently Burjeel’s general manager for transformation and has been involved in strategic finance, capital allocation, corporate development, and the group’s wider transformation agenda. He replaces Muhammed Shihabuddin (LinkedIn), who will remain CFO through 30 September to support the transition.

More on the new hire: Joseph brings more than 20 years of experience across financial reporting, treasury, M&A, restructuring, and finance transformation. Before joining Burjeel, he was CFO of VPS Health and also held board and senior advisory roles.

New private credit fund on the block, solar plant in RAK, fundraise for Synapse, and another law firm lands in Abu Dhabi

Zamanat takes private credit onto the blockchain

DIFC-based Zamanat is sponsoring a tokenized private credit fund targeting up to USD 100 mn, with its sights set on the GCC’s estimated USD 250 bn SME financing shortfall, as per a press release. The Zamanat Fund CEIC will invest in GCC private credit, targeting businesses underserved by traditional lenders.

How it’ll work: Qualifying professional clients will be issued ZM1 Investment Tokens on ZIGChain. Dubai-based Truleum Venture Partners will manage the fund, while Apex Group will provide administration.

Ras Al Khaimah puts on some solar muscle

Zakh Renewable Energy and Engineering Manufacturing opened a solar panel and solar-integrated building (SIB) manufacturing facility in Ras Al Khaimah, targeting demand across the UAE, GCC, and international markets, as per a Rakez press release. Aside from making conventional solar modules, it will build facade systems to integrate solar generation into buildings.

Capacity is the next move: Zakh plans to expand its manufacturing footprint and increase solar module production capacity to more than 1.8 GW in the coming years. The facility currently has capacity to produce 600 MW of solar panels a year, alongside up to 500k sqm of SIP facade solutions.

AI startup Synapse raises USD 13 mn to put AI on the risk desk

Abu Dhabi-based Synapse Analytics raised USD 13 mn in a Series A round, taking its total funding to USD 17 mn, the firm said in a press release. Paris-based Partech led the round, with Jordanian investment firm Silicon Badia and Cairo-based Algebra Ventures participating. The fresh capital will support hiring, product development, and international expansion.

AI, but keep the keys: Synapse currently works with institutions across the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The startup builds an agentic AI decisioning platform for banks, fintechs, non-bank financial institutions and telcos. Its systems can run inside a client’s own infrastructure, allowing institutions to automate onboarding, credit, fraud, and AML decisions without moving sensitive data outside their perimeter.

Sullivan & Cromwell deepens Middle East footprint

US law firm Sullivan & Cromwell opened an office in ADGM, with returning partner Ahmed T. El Gaili (LinkedIn) tapped to lead its Middle East practice, state news agency Wam reports. The office will cover clients across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the wider region, with a focus on M&A, private equity, project finance, and restructuring.

Sullivan & Cromwell joins a growing roster of global firms setting up in ADGM as sovereign capital and dealmaking pull more advisers into Abu Dhabi. We’ve previously covered Skadden opening in the hub, while ADGM has since tightened licensing and governance rules for law and other professional services firms.

Portal and Forge partners with London player on flagship program

Sharjah-based AI firm Portal and Forge is partnering with London-based deeptech firm BeyondMath to target business leaders for its Klavarium program, the company said in a press release. The program is kicking off in London in December and is designed for C-suite execs and directors. Klavarium will focus on applying physics AI to business contexts and operations across sectors like aerospace, manufacturing, defense, automotive, and energy.

Private equity on track to underdeliver for investors

The boom of pre-2022 has well and truly worn off for private equity, and funds are likely to fall short on the returns promised to investors, experts and investors tell the Financial Times. Geopolitics, overvaluations, and investor pressure are all squeezing an asset class in a four-year downturn.

Where it began: The PE boom can be traced back to the period between 2019 and 2021, when the low interest rate environment of the post-2008 era met with a wave of financial stimulus packages on the back of the pandemic. The result was a record-breaking 2021, as the value of buyout transactions doubled and broke the USD 1 tn ceiling for the first time.

Now, it’s a very different story. The investment class has been in a four-year downturn, and between two-thirds and 90% of funds that started in that era are now falling short of their targeted returns, the sources said. Last decade, PE averaged returns of 25% of net assets to investors. Now, that figure is less than 15%.

The pinch is also coming from two sides: speed and values. The internal rate of return measures how much and how quickly a fund delivers its returns. One top executive expects funds that deployed capital between 2019 and 2021 to land at an average IRR of just 7-8% once all is said and done. The majority of firms aren’t likely to meet their IRR targets at all, according to Advent’s Managing Partner James Brocklebank, while two other fund investors see IRRs settling in the low double-digits — well below the typical high-teens target after fees.

That tracks with what we’ve noted so far, and shows the strain isn't confined to the West: PE and VC exits slowed to USD 2.7 bn in MENA in 1H — a fraction of the USD 386 bn Bain estimates buyout funds exited globally over the same period — putting 2026 on track to record the lowest exit value since 2017, despite private equity transaction values outpacing last year’s figures so far at USD 8.6 bn for 1H.

The current exit strategy (or lack thereof): Industry executives said during the IPEM conference that many funds aren’t selling yet, hoping to avoid the hit to returns in the current environment.

Pressure is also mounting from investors: They aren’t willing to sell out at a reduction but are also calling for more liquidity, Summation Capital’s CIO Roger Vincent says. For now, the sector looks increasingly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets are mixed in early trading, with Japan’s Nikkei up 0.4% and South Korea’s Kospi flat. Wall Street equities dropped as comments about AI safety concerns from tech leaders sparked a sell-off in Nvidia and chip stocks.

ADX	10,118	+0.1% (YTD: +1.3%)
DFM	5,977	+0.6% (YTD: -1.2%)
Nasdaq Dubai UAE20	4,940	+0.7% (YTD: +1.1%)
USD : AED CBUAE	Buy 3.67	Sell 3.67
EIBOR	3.5% o/n	4.7% 1 yr
TASI	10,878	+0.1% (YTD: +3.7%)
EGX30	54,797	-1.6% (YTD: +31.0%)
S&P 500	7,620	-0.5% (YTD: +11.3%)
FTSE 100	10,698	+0.4% (YTD: +7.7%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,260	-1.0% (YTD: +8.0%)
Brent crude	USD 106.97	+1.2%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 2.88	-0.5%
Gold	USD 4,327	-0.6%
BTC	USD 78,047	+1.5% (YTD: -11.0%)
Lunate JP Morgan UAE Bond UCITS ETF	AED 3.59	+1.4% (YTD: -6.0%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	149.33	-0.2% (YTD: -1.7%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	17.10	+8.0% (YTD: +14.4%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The ADX rose 0.1% yesterday on turnover of AED 1.5 bn. The index is up 1.3% YTD.

In the green: Space42 (+6.5%), Bank of Sharjah (+2.5%), and Waha Capital Capital (+2.4%).

In the red: Al Buhaira National Ins. Company (-4.6%), Rapco Investment (-3.9%), and Two Point Zero Group (-3.4%).

Over on the DFM, the index rose 0.6% on turnover of AED 1.1 bn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai was up 0.7%.

CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER

14-17 September (Monday-Thursday): Arabian Travel Market, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

15-16 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

16 September (Wednesday): Altinvest, St. Regis, Downtown Dubai, Dubai.

17-19 September (Thursday-Saturday): International Real Estate & Investment Show (IREIS), Adnec, Abu Dhabi.

18-19 September (Friday-Saturday): EuroLeague Basketball SuperCup, Etihad Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.

28-29 September (Monday-Tuesday): Al Ain Future Business Forum, Adnec, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi.

29-30 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): AFCM Annual Conference, Abu Dhabi.

OCTOBER

1-2 October (Thursday-Friday): MEIRA Annual Conference, Atlantis the Royal, Dubai.

4-10 October (Sunday-Saturday): World Space Week, Abu Dhabi.

5-7 October (Monday-Wednesday): AI Everything Global, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

12-14 October (Monday-Wednesday): Airport Show, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

14-15 October (Wednesday-Thursday): Sharjah Investment Forum, Jawaher Reception and Convention Center, Sharjah.

13-15 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Annual Meeting of Global Future Leaders, Dubai.

20-22 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Future Health Summit, Adnec Center Abu Dhabi.

21 October (Wednesday): Reuters NEXT Gulf, St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi.

27-28 October (Tuesday-Wednesday): Arab Competition Forum, Dubai.

27-28 October (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

30 October (Friday): Large businesses achieving annual revenues equal to or above AED 50 mn must appoint an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation.

Signposted to happen sometime in October 2026:

Abu Dhabi Space Week, Abu Dhabi.

NOVEMBER

2-6 November (Monday-Friday): Dubai Future Finance Week, Dubai.

4 November (Wednesday): Digital Transformation Summit, Sofitel, Abu Dhabi.

9-10 November (Monday-Tuesday): Annual government meetings, Abu Dhabi.

9-12 November (Monday-Thursday): EMEA Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education Conference, Dubai College of Tourism, Dubai.

9-13 November (Monday-Friday): World Congress of Military Medicine, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

10-12 November (Tuesday-Thursday): Dubai International Electric Vehicle Exhibition & Conference, Dubai World Trade Center.

16-18 November (Monday-Wednesday): World Police Summit, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

18-19 November (Wednesday-Thursday): Touchdown Middle East 2026, Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi.

25-26 November (Saturday-Sunday): Doers Summit, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai.

DECEMBER

2-4 December (Wednesday-Friday): UN Water Conference, UAE.

4-6 December (Friday-Sunday): Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi.

8-9 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Capital Market Summit, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.

8-9 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

7-10 December (Monday-Thursday): Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi.

8-10 December (Tuesday-Thursday): Abu Dhabi Water & Power Week, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

8-10 December (Tuesday-Thursday) Middle East & North Africa Business Aviation Association Show, DWC, Dubai Airshow Site.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2027:

1 January: Deadline for large businesses to implement e-invoicing;
1Q 2027: Completion of the first phase of Hassyan seawater desalination project;
1-3 February (Monday-Wednesday): World Governments Summit;
31 March: Small businesses with annual revenues of less than AED 50 mn are obliged to contract with an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation;
31 March: Government entities are required to appoint an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation;
21-22 April (Wednesday-Thursday): Token2049, Dubai;
31 May-2 June (Monday-Wednesday): RailX Dubai, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.
1 July: Deadline for small businesses to implement e-invoicing;
1 October: Deadline for governments to implement e-invoicing;
Abu Dhabi’s solar and battery energy facility, combining 5.2 GW of solar capacity and 19 GWh of battery storage, is set for commissioning.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2028:

Artificial Intelligence Summit.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2029:

Sibos 2029 organized by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), Dubai;
Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, Abu Dhabi;
The commissioning of the seventh phase of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

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