THIS MORNING: Canada investment pledge starts to move + Adnoc’s Hormuz bypass could be opening within months

Good morning, everyone. Some plans and projects have hit a speed bump, while others are moving full speed ahead. Mubadala and Trafigura are pulling the plug (for now) on their Porto Sudeste sale after the Brazilian iron ore port received lackluster bids of some USD 1.5-2 bn below their target.

Other projects are showing signs of moving ahead, namely, the UAE-Canada USD 50 bn investment pledge, with Emirati firms and Canadian counterparts negotiating up to USD 15 bn in trade and investment in sectors like mining, logistics, energy, and sovereign wealth fund investment.

PLUS- Amanat is entering the UK with another healthcare takeover + Adnoc’s Hormuz bypass pipeline could be up and running as soon as early next year, expanding export capacity to customers in Asia who are ready to store more Gulf crude in-house.

We also spoke to Seven Stars Legal Group about its DIFC-regulated fund lending to UK law firms, as well as its strategy and returns target.

RATE WATCH- The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) kept its Base Rate, which applies to the Overnight Deposit Facility, at 3.9% after the US Federal Reserve left its interest rate on reserve balances unchanged, according to a statement (pdf). The CBUAE also kept the rate for borrowing short-term funds from the central bank at 50 basis points above the Base Rate across all its standing credit facilities.

Canada’s pledge starts to move

The UAE’s investment pledge to Canada could soon turn into deals: Emirati companies are negotiating up to CAD 21.1 bn (USD 15 bn) in trade and investment with Canadian counterparts across mining, logistics, energy, and sovereign wealth fund investment, according to the Abu Dhabi Media Office. That’s roughly 30% of the CAD 70 bn (USD 50 bn) the UAE pledged during Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to Abu Dhabi last November. The figure came out as Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed signed the CEPA and defense and energy MoUs in Ottawa this week.

REMEMBER- As recently as July, none of the pledged money had moved. Carney’s own Major Projects Office reportedly told a visiting UAE delegation in June that Canada had no shovel-ready projects to put the capital into, and a USD 1 bn critical minerals agreement Carney said was being finalized last November still hasn’t materialized.

DP World has the first concrete agreement. It signed an MoU with Arctic Gateway Group and CenterPort Canada to build a transport corridor linking the Port of Churchill and the Hudson Bay Railway to its global network. Masdar also signed a cooperation arrangement with Natural Resources Canada to pair UAE renewables developers with Canadian partners.

PLUS- Abu Dhabi satellite operator Space42 and US-based Viasat signed an MoU with Canada’s Terrestar Solutions to develop a global open standard for sharing satellite infrastructure to connect mobile phones, Bloomberg reports. Terrestar will work on interoperability with Equatys, the direct-to-device joint venture Space42 and Viasat launched in September with up to USD 1 bn in equity. That pitch is aimed at governments wary of depending on US providers, and Canada is one of them: Carney has said the country will diversify away from Starlink.

Dar Global goes fundraising for Dubai

Dar Global is sounding out a Dubai-only real estate fund, run through its DIFC-based asset management arm Dar Global Capital Partners (DGCP), according to a statement. The fund has no disclosed size, timeline, or anchor investors yet. Dar Al Arkan, the London-listed international arm of the Saudi developer, has also given DGCP a broader mandate to buy property across the GCC, Europe, the UK, and the US.

The pipeline is bigger than home sales can carry: Dar Global, which earns when it sells homes, saw its revenue rise 66% to USD 258 mn in 1H 2026 against a pipeline that nearly doubled to USD 23 bn of gross development value. Fee income and outside capital spread the risk on the larger projects, which was the logic behind its purchase of a DIFC-licensed firm in August 2025. DGCP serves professional clients only, pitching sovereign funds, institutions, and the ultra-wealthy.

ADGM’s crypto miners get their rulebook

ADGM finalized its rules of the road for crypto miners. The ADGM Registration Authority’s guidance, published yesterday after a consultation that opened in January, keeps mining on a commercial licence rather than under the financial regulator. In exchange, licence holders must disclose their ultimate beneficial owners and confidentially hand over the wallet addresses their mining rewards flow to. ADGM-registered headquarters running mining sites abroad also fall under the authority’s supervision. Binding regulations come in a second phase, with a fresh consultation still to be scheduled.

Another Asian home for Gulf crude

The Philippines is in talks with the UAE, alongside Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, to store crude and refined fuels on its territory, Philippine Energy Secretary Sharon Garin told Reuters. It is also talking to Russia, the US, Japan, and Australia to shield itself from supply disruptions and price spikes. No investment commitments, storage volumes, or emergency access arrangements have been announced.

Adnoc already stores crude in India, Japan, and South Korea. It agreed to increase its crude storage presence in India to as much as 30 mn barrels, nearly triple the roughly 11 mn barrels it already leases through India’s strategic reserve. Abu Dhabi also expanded its joint crude stockpiles in Japan in May and arranged to store more than 6 mn barrels in South Korea in March.

IN CONTEXT- Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia are seeking to expand their storage capacity in Japan roughly tenfold, though capacity constraints and cost-sharing arrangements remain obstacles.

Hormuz bypass could be up and running soon

Speaking of crude, Adnoc’s Asian refinery customers may be getting theirs via the new Hormuz bypassing pipeline as soon as early next year, Bloomberg reports, citing sources it says are familiar with the matter. The state oil giant was already accelerating work on the West-East pipeline after the war started, with an original timeframe only indicating it’d be ready next year. The pipeline is set to double the UAE’s Hormuz bypass export capacity as authorities hope to get to a place of zero reliance on the strait.

What could be moving: Upper Zakum could be among the first orders to pass through the pipeline under term agreements instead of being transported through Hormuz. Currently, the UAE’s existing Habshan-Fujairah pipeline delivers Murban.

PSAs

Abu Dhabi is linking Ramhan and Jubail islands to the E12: Abu Dhabi’s Department of Municipalities and Transport says advanced works are underway on seven bridges, three tunnels, and a network of ramps and utility corridors linking Ramhan and Jubail islands to the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Highway (E12). The project carries an AED 872 mn budget and is due for completion in 2027, according to the Abu Dhabi Media Office. It’s the third big road package since July, after the E20 expansion and a 13 km Musaffah overhaul announced earlier this month.

REMEMBER- We flagged the island-to-mainland push back in 2024, when Abu Dhabi’s Integrated Transport Center greenlit AED 3 bn in road projects, including a 25 km road linking Abu Dhabi island to the mainland via an intermediary.

#2- Meanwhile, in Dubai… all roads lead to the metro station: Dubai’s Executive Council approved yesterday a AED 2 bn development plan to lift real estate values in select urban centers by AED 20 bn by raising the share of people living around mass transit stations to 74%, from 52% currently, state news agency Wam reports. The plan covers six main centers and 42 sub-centers, which together make up 12% of Dubai’s urban area, though Wam did not specify which areas are targeted.

GO DEEPER- We took a closer look earlier this month at the UAE’s public transport push. Dubai has more than AED 54 bn committed to two new metro lines and is aiming to put 80% of essential services within 20 minutes of residents. The catch is getting people from their front door to the platform.

WEATHER- Temperatures will come at highs of 36°C tomorrow in Dubai, with overnight lows of 27°C, while it’ll be the coolest it's been for a while in Abu Dhabi, with highs of 34°C and lows of 26°C.

The big story abroad

Families, companies, and governments across Europe are under growing strain as gas prices climb back above EUR 100 a megawatt-hour for the first time since 2022. The anger over living costs is spilling into unrest in several parts of the continent. Gas prices are now more than three times what they were before the Iran war. The latest jump comes from higher demand for heating, unusually small gas reserves across Europe, and concern that a wider conflict could squeeze global supplies even more. The impact is also reaching beyond gas, as rising oil, diesel, and electricity costs push up energy inflation across Europe.

China is scrambling to prop up its stock market as its AI stocks struggle. China’s CSI 300 blue-chip index has fallen about 20% from its June peak, and the slide has spread to Hong Kong. Weak consumer demand, a long property slump, and shrinking government spending are behind the drop. Beijing has sent state-backed funds to buy shares, but analysts say a lasting rebound needs stronger demand at home. Investors are watching this week’s Communist Party plenum for signs of bigger stimulus.

Oracle says it will start generating more funds than it uses in the second half of fiscal 2028, as it tries to ease concerns about the cost of its AI expansion. Much of Oracle’s growth depends on ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and building data centers for that deal has led the company to take on large amounts of debt and issue new shares. Oracle has capped any new fundraising at USD 20 bn through fiscal 2030.

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