Good morning, everyone, and Ramadan Kareem to all those who observe. We hope you were better prepared than we were and had the chance to hydrate and caffeinate ahead of your first Ramadan workday.

We kickstart the holy month with a relatively calm — though Mubadala-heavy — issue, with the big story being yet another development in the Mubadala-Getir saga, as Getir’s founders now moved to sue Mubadala for breaking up its assets. Mubadala Bio has also finalized its acquisition of two UAE pharma players as it looks to scale up its presence in the sector.

The Mubadala news doesn’t end there — a Mubadala VC fund backed proptech startup Stake, contributing to its USD 31 mn series.

In rare non-Mubadala news, Unikai’s shareholders rejected Kuwaiti firm Al Wafir’s offer to acquire a majority stake in the firm.

ALSO- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan alluded to a “health problem” involving UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a since-deleted post on X, prompting the cancellation of Erdogan’s visit to the UAE, originally scheduled for Monday. The post had mentioned that the two presidents got on a call instead to discuss cooperation. Al Nahyan also had a phone call with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, an official statement on Monday showed. There has yet to be any official confirmation of a health issue from the UAE authorities.

PSA

Gratis mosque parking in Dubai throughout Ramadan: Dubai’s public parking operator Parkin announced that spaces designated for mosques — marked M and MP — will be available at no charge throughout the day during Ramadan, according to a post on X. The operator also set out standard public parking hours across the emirate:

  • Paid parking will run from 8am to 6pm, and then from 8pm to 12am;
  • Parking will come at no charge between 6pm and 8pm, as well as on Sundays and public holidays.

Happening today

A UAE delegation led by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is in New Delhi for the India AI Impact Summit, which started Monday and runs through Friday, 20 February, according to Abu Dhabi Media Office.

On the agenda: Discussions on global frameworks for AI governance, future strategic priorities for the technology, and mechanisms to strengthen public-private cooperation in support of Sustainable Development Goals. The program also features specialist sessions on emerging applications and global technology shifts, alongside an exhibition.

WEATHER- It’s a warm, breezy Ramadan morning, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi seeing the mercury peak at 28°C, while Dubai will see a low of 19°C and the capital will see a low of 18°C.

Watch this space

CYBERSECURITY — A major security lapse has left the personal data of over 700 high-profile attendees of last year’s Abu Dhabi Finance Week exposed, as an unprotected server hosted by the event was easily accessible to the public, the Financial Times reports. Passports and state identity cards — belonging to figures including former UK prime minister David Cameron — were among the sensitive documents compromised.

What they said: “ADFW takes, and has always taken, data protection and platform security extremely seriously, and any breaches of security are also taken with utmost seriousness,” the state-sponsored entity told the salmon-colored paper. An initial review suggested that the data was accessed only by the researcher who discovered the issue, it said. The Abu Dhabi Finance Week website appears to be under maintenance as of today.

DIPLOMACY — Regional rebuke over Israel’s land push: Israel’s decision to designate parts of the occupied West Bank as “state land” and move ahead with land registration and settlement procedures in the area has triggered a joint response from regional foreign ministries. The UAE’s foreign minister joined counterparts from Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar in condemning Israel’s actions, state news agency Wam reports.

The subtext: The bloc called the decision “unlawful” and a “grave escalation,” arguing it fast-tracks settlement activity and further erodes the two-state framework. Framing the move as a breach of international law, the statement cites UN Security Council Resolution 2334 — which explicitly states settlements have no juridical validity, a point that apparently still bears repeating — and urges the international community to act.

SPACE — Another milestone in orbit: The UAE Space Agency extended the Emirates Mars Mission to 2028, adding three years to the Hope Probe’s run after technical reviews confirmed it remains in strong condition, according to a statement on X.

Hope? Launched in 2020, the orbiter is designed to map Mars’ atmosphere and weather systems, tracking how the planet’s lower and upper layers interact across seasons. It made the UAE the fifth nation to reach Mars and the second to succeed on its first attempt.

Not its first overtime: Built for one Martian year (two Earth years), the spacecraft has now logged five Earth years in space and generated more than 10 terabytes of data — 10x its initial target, Khaleej Times reports. It will keep expanding that data bank through 2028, deepening national space capabilities while providing more information and research for a separate UAE asteroid belt mission slated for that same year.

ICYMI- The extension lands days after Abu Dhabi’s TII advanced sovereign launch capabilities with its first homegrown hybrid rocket test, as we’ve noted in our recent coverage.

DEBT — Sustainable bond issuance in the MENA region is projected to hit USD 20-25 bn this year, picking up momentum from last year when regional appetite rose 3% y-o-y, and holding up against a global slump as issuance fell 21%, according to S&P Global. The Gulf in particular — namely Saudi Arabia and the UAE — dominated the market, accounting for 80% of all issuance by value and offsetting a significant decline in issuance from Turkey. While banks led the charge in Saudi, the UAE and Turkey saw corporates take the wheel.

Sustainable sukuk issuance hit a record USD 11.4 bn in 2025, up 44% y-o-y, and accounted for 45% of all regional sustainable bond value, up from 33% a year earlier.

Adding another layer to the funding mix, Islamic syndicated financing is also gaining traction. Fitch says outstanding global Islamic syndications rose about 16% last year to roughly USD 215 bn, lifting their share of total syndicated financing in core markets to 27.6%. Activity remains heavily concentrated in Saudi Arabia (34% of global outstanding) and the UAE (33%), with Egypt trailing at 8%.

CHEMICALS — Abu Dhabi-based Fertiglobe is leaning into Europe as policy — mainly Russian supply curbs — reshapes the fertilizers trade, Bloomberg reports. The Adnoc-owned urea and ammonia producer and exporter is expanding its footprint in the bloc as carbon pricing and trade barriers tilt the market toward lower-emissions producers.

Europe ranks among the company’s top three markets, with the company selling some 1.6 mn tons of urea to the EU last year — around a quarter of total output and a 19% increase y-o-y, per the business news outlet. Most of that urea goes into agriculture, but part of the mix is higher-value automotive-grade products used in diesel emission systems, Fertiglobe’s CEO Ahmed El Hoshy told the outlet.

Why this matters: The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which applies to nitrogen fertilizers, puts pressure on older, higher-emissions European plants while favoring newer assets with lower carbon intensity. Fertiglobe’s production base is structurally advantaged under this regime, El Hoshy said.

Keeping the portfolio balanced: India and Australia remain core markets for Abu Dhabi, while the company’s acquisition of Wengfu Australia’s distribution assets back in October locks in access to a premium counter-seasonal market — with the company open to further consolidation, El Hoshy added.

Data point

13.1% — that’s the y-o-y increase in Abu Dhabi residential capital values in 4Q 2025, as the ValuStrat Price Index (pdf) climbed 4.3% q-o-q to 139.1 points. That marks a sharp acceleration from the same period last year and the strongest annual apartment price growth in a decade.

The breakdown: Villas rose 13.4% annually and 3.9% q-o-q, while apartments gained 12.8% y-o-y and 4.7% q-o-q, with the citywide average home value reaching AED 11.3k per sqm. Rental values also firmed, up 8.2% annually and 2% q-o-q, keeping yields around 8%.

The big story abroad

The Netflix-Paramount-Warner Bros saga is making waves once again, after Warner Bros Discovery gave Paramount a seven-day window to propose its final bid, giving the suitor one last chance to counter rival Netflix’s offer. This came after Warner Bros rejected Paramount’s USD 30-per-share offer, but gave it a chance to put in its “best and final” offer. Investors have hinted that they will accept no less than 33 a share to consider a competing offer to Netflix’s current bid.

Social media giant Meta will buy mns of Nvidia chips, under a multiyear agreement worth tens of bns of USD. The move potentially gives the chipmaker a leg up in maintaining its dominance as it faces intense competition from AMD and even from its own pool of Big Tech clients. Meta framed the move as an infrastructure agreement, whereby it will use the hardware for its AI-optimized data centers.

ALSO- A few software companies released their latest earnings early to quell the recent equity selloff prompted by fears over AI overtaking the tech sector. Speaking of the selloff, it showed signs of abating with the S&P 500 information technology sector rebounding from previous losses, closing in the green yesterday. The upswing was bolstered by gains in Apple and Nvidia stocks.

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