THIS MORNING: Taqa taps debt markets for first time since going private + Adia goes back for more of Jio in USD 3.2 bn IPO

Good morning, everyone. The UAE’s first IPO of the year is finally here, marking the first real test as to whether investors still have appetite for a UAE listing since war froze the IPO pipeline. It’s Dubai Investments that’s bringing the listing, offering 20% of DIP Holdings on the DFM, in an IPO that has been on the table since early 2025.

Market reactions suggested initial optimism surrounding the ITF, however experts say investors will be looking for more details on the offer before making up their minds. There’s a lot riding on this one: A successful IPO would reinforce confidence in the market, while a flat debut might depress valuations and delay the pipeline further, experts told us.

It’s a capital markets-heavy issue in general: Adia has put in a bid to back Jio Platforms’ USD 3.2 bn IPO and Taqa is tapping debt markets for the first time since being bought out by L’imad subsidiary Abu Dhabi Power Corporation.

Plus: Some of the rules for the upcoming e-invoicing rollout are getting relaxed, with the Finance Ministry giving some firms a temporary exemption for certain transactions, as well as lifting local data storage rules and reporting deadlines for system failures.

Taqa is tapping debt markets

Taqa is tapping debt markets for the first time since going private: Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) is marketing a two-part USD bond, comprising a long five-year green tranche at initial price thoughts of around 130 bps over US Treasuries and a 10-year tranche at around 140 bps, Zawya reports. Moody’s is expected to rate the notes Aa3, while Fitch is expected to assign an AA- rating, both in line with Taqa’s own ratings. The bonds settle on 26 October and mature in April 2032 and October 2036.

Taqa joins a roster of names that have returned to debt markets in recent weeks — mostly banks, including Emirates Islamic, FAB, and Mashreq.

Where the funds will go: The green bond’s proceeds will fund or refinance projects that qualify under Taqa’s green and blue finance framework, while the 10-year tranche’s proceeds will go toward general corporate purposes.

BACKGROUND- Taqa left the ADX on 1 September, after L’imad subsidiary Abu Dhabi Power Corporation bought out its remaining shareholders. The energy firm has a heavy capex plan: AED 75 bn by 2030, split between AED 40 bn for transmission and distribution and AED 35 bn for power generation and desalination.

ADVISORS- ADCB, Citi, Emirates NBD Capital, FAB, HSBC, ICBC, JPMorgan, Standard Chartered, and our friends at Mashreq are joint bookrunners and joint lead managers. Citi, HSBC, and Standard Chartered are structuring the green tranche.

Sharjah’s in for growth next year

Sharjah’s economy should grow 5% in 2027, assuming disruptions to shipping and travel ease gradually next year, according to a Moody’s report picked up by Al Bayan. Moody’s credits the emirate’s manufacturing base, which supplies the other emirates and regional markets, and a strong property market. It kept Sharjah’s rating at Ba1 with a stable outlook, one notch below investment grade, and expects the emirate to run a primary budget surplus in both 2026 and 2027.

The bigger picture: The World Bank sees the UAE contracting 1.6% this year, as we reported earlier this month, before growing 9.5% in 2027. The IMF’s numbers are similar: a 3.9% contraction this year and 7.7% growth in 2027, provided shipping routes normalize and Hormuz reopens.

Adia goes back for more Jio

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) bid for more of Jio Platforms in its USD 3.2 bn IPO, Reuters reports, citing two people it says are familiar with the matter. Adia already owns 1.16% of Reliance’s telecom and digital arm. Institutions including GIC, BlackRock, and Fidelity submitted about USD 25 bn in orders for the 30% institutional tranche, almost 30x what was on offer. Subscription opens to the public on Wednesday.

Why it matters: Reuters calls this India’s biggest-ever IPO, and it’s being treated as a test of how much global investors will pay for Jio’s 500 mn-plus subscribers and its push into cloud and AI. If it lists successfully, Jio would become one of India’s four most valuable listed companies. Up to INR 275 bn (c. USD 2.9 bn) of the proceeds will go to paying down debt at its telecom unit Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Adia has already been active in India’s IPO market this year, securing anchor stakes in the National Stock Exchange of India’s offering — previously the biggest IPO in India but looks set to be dethroned by Jio — and SBI Funds Management’s listing.

Data point

19% — that’s how much Abu Dhabi’s residential transaction volumes fell q-o-q in 3Q, according to a press release on Savills’ latest quarterly report. Volumes were also down 7% y-o-y at just under 6.1k transactions worth AED 21.5 bn.

But buyers are spending more per transaction: Total sales value was 32% higher than in 3Q 2025. Off-plan made up 81% of transactions, and the average off-plan transaction value rose 40% y-o-y to AED 5 mn, against AED 2.8 mn for ready homes. At the top end, 582 homes sold for more than AED 10 mn, more than double a year earlier and up 35% q-o-q. Almost all of those (95%) were off-plan.

Prices are still rising, but more slowly: Apartments averaged AED 22.7k per sqm, up 9% y-o-y, and villas and townhouses AED 18.2k per sqm, up 8%. Price growth has been cooling: capital values rose 2.1% q-o-q in 2Q, their slowest quarterly pace in two years, as the war weighed on off-plan sales and mortgage transactions.

Also: The war hasn’t scared off foreign money. Foreign buyers, both expat residents and overseas investors, accounted for 70% of sales value in 1H 2026, up from 64% in 1H 2024.

PSA

WEATHER- Temperatures are set to be slightly cooler today, with highs of 36°C in Abu Dhabi as Dubai sees a warmer 37°C, before it cools to 28°C overnight in both emirates.

Happening today

French President Emmanuel Macron is in the UAE today, and energy is at the top of his agenda. He arrived in Abu Dhabi from Kuwait last night on a three-day Gulf tour and is expected at a Franco-Emirati business summit focused on AI and energy, The National reports. He’s travelling with the CEOs of TotalEnergies and Engie and the president of Campus AI, the AI hub under construction near Paris with bns in funding from Abu Dhabi AI investor MGX.

An Élysée source told The National that Macron would discuss with Gulf leaders how to secure regional shipping routes and find alternative routes for oil and fuel that avoid the chokepoints. Crucially: Unlike Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain, which depend largely on Hormuz for their oil exports, the UAE has an alternative route through the port of Fujairah. The Élysée said Macron’s UAE talks would also cover defense, security, and new technologies including AI.

The trip comes as high fuel prices trigger a cost of living crisis in France, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets across the country and some protests turning violent.

The big story abroad

AI cloud computing company Nscale is negotiating to sell computing power to Anthropic. This transaction could be worth approximately USD 45 bn for a second facility at Nscale’s Monarch data center campus in West Virginia, which would provide 460 MW of computing power via Nvidia’s Vera Rubin AI chips.

A big wager on law: Private equity group Charlesbank has invested in civil litigation defense company Wood Smith Henning & Berman, in one of the largest law firm deals in the US. The agreement, which reportedly values the firm at about USD 700 mn, could potentially lead to similar investments in US liability defence firms.

French unrest dies down: Protests largely subsided in France after authorities implemented stricter security measures, including curfews, following demonstrations that escalated into violence, vandalism, and looting. Following calls from Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, local authorities imposed an 11 pm curfew in several parts of Paris and introduced restrictions in other cities.

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