Good morning, lovely people. It’s another busy news day, with the India-UAE business forum wrapping with several agreements, RedBird IMI finally selling the Spectator (next up: the Telegraph), and business conglomerate Hayel Saeed Anam Group snaps up a stake in an Egyptian biscuit manufacturer.

BUT FIRST- The UAE lost 0-1 to Iran in the third round of Asia’s world cup qualifiers, leaving it third in Group A. North Korea is next to play against the Emirati team at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on 10 October.

HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- NMDC Energy’s shares will begin trading on the ADX’s First Category starting today, under the ticker NMDCENR, Wam reports. For the first three trading sessions, the company’s share price will not not be subject to the usual daily rise and fall limits. The final share price was set at AED 2.8.

REMEMBER- Last week, NMDC Energy raised AED 3.22 bn in its IPO, offering 23% of its shares to the market and attracting over AED 88 bn in orders. The order book was 31x oversubscribed, excluding cornerstone investors.

#2- The UAE is set to participate in the two-day Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) summit, which runs today and tomorrow in Hong Kong, state news agency Wam reports. The UAE has invested some USD 10 bn in BRI projects to date.

#3- The inaugural Dubai AI and Web3 Festival will kick off today and run until tomorrow at Madinat Jumeirah. The Dubai International Financial Centre event will host over 100 exhibitors and will welcome some 5k tech industry experts and entrepreneurs to explore and discuss investment, collaboration and innovation in the tech sector.

#4- The PPP MENA Forum kicked off yesterday and will run until today at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai. Sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, the two-day event will bring together senior policymakers, investors, and business executives from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman to discuss the latest financial and regulatory developments in PPP frameworks and explore means to advance PPP initiatives in the region.

#5- EFG Hermes’ annual conference continues today in London, giving investors “unique and unparalleled access to leading equities in MENA and key frontier emerging markets.” The event will wrap tomorrow.

What to watch out for today: Today’s session of the conference at London’s Emirates Stadium will feature Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority head Mohamed Farid, who will be taking part in a fireside chat that will dive into the latest in capital markets, regulations and fintech, EFG Hermes said in a statement (pdf).

** EnterpriseAM UAE will have exclusive coverage of the signature Fireside Chats from the conference in tomorrow morning’s edition.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- US Electric aircraft developer Joby Aviation applied for certification to operate commercial air transport in the UAE, according to a statement from Joby. The company will develop air taxi operating manuals, undergo facility inspections, and complete the observation of pilot and aircraft mechanic training and flight operations by the country’s General Civil Aviation Authority as part of the process.

We knew this was coming: Joby said last month it plans to launch battery-powered air taxis in Dubai by late 2025. The company plans to kick off infrastructure work later this year, begin initial flights early next year, and eyes full commercialization by the end of 2025.

#2- Etihad Water and Electricity Company (Ewec) plans to extend new energy tariffreductions agreed earlier this year to 50 industrial and tech businesses in Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, Ajman, and Umm Al Qaiwain over the next two years, state news agency Wam reports. Ewec has so far processed applications from 10 firms.

Background: Ewec revised its energy consumption tariff structure for industrial and tech customers in the northern emirates at the Make it in the Emirates forum earlier this year. The new tiered pricing system targets manufacturers with a monthly consumption exceeding 10 MW per hour, with rates for the tariff now beginning at 26 fils per KW hour, down from 32 fils per KWh.

#3- Alpha Dhabi offloads OCI’s methanol unit stake: Abu Dhabi-based Alpha Dhabi Holding will offload its 11% equity stake in OCI Global’s methanol business OCI Clean Fuels, according to an ADX filing (pdf). This comes as part of OCI Global’s sale of its methanol business operating in the US and Europe to Canadian methanol producer Methanex earlier this week.

Background: OCI Global sold its entire methanol business to Methanex in a USD 2.05 bn agreement. Methanex will make the purchase by paying USD 1.15 bn in cash, in addition to the issuance of 9.9 mn of its shares valued at USD 450 mn, giving OCI a 13% ownership of the company to make it the second largest shareholder. The transaction is set to be completed in 1H 2025, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.

DATA POINT-

Over 400 AI companies were registered in Abu Dhabi by the end of 2Q 2024, Wam reported, citing a study by the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The first half of the year saw the establishment of 90 AI companies, up 41.3% y-o-y. Some 69% of AI-related activities were focused on innovation, AI research, and consultancies in 2Q 2024, the study showed.

OIL WATCH-

The UAE’s crude oil production averaged 2.96 mn barrels per day in August, a slight increase of 4k barrels from July, according to secondary data published in Opec’s Monthly Oil Market report (pdf). Production averaged 2.9 mn bbl / d in 2Q 2024. Crude oil output rose in Nigeria, Congo, and Venezuela, while Libya, Iraq, while Saudi Arabia saw declines in production.

Opec cut its forecast for oil demand growth in 2024 to 2 mn barrels per day, some 80k bbl / d less than its previous forecast. The oil cartel also sees demand growth slowing to 1.7 mn bbl / d next year, 40k bbl / d lower than its initial forecast.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

The much-anticipated Harris-Trump debate ends with bang, not a whimper, as the two presidential hopefuls repeatedly accused each other of lying and clashed on the economy, January 6, abortion rights, Gaza, migration, and of course crowd sizes throughout the night.

Trump remained firm on his insistence that he won the 2020 election against Biden, going on to say that there was “so much proof” — conveniently without providing any. Doubling down, Trump alleged that Democrats were ferrying in undocumented migrants across the border to “get them to vote.”

Harris was keen to present Trump as a danger to democracy, telling the camera that the former president “incited a violent mob to attack our nation’s Capitol, to desecrate our nation’s Capitol” after being “fired by 81 mn people.”

“She hates Israel. If she is president I believe that Israel will not exist in two years from now,” Trump argued, adding in Trumpian fashion that the war would have “never started” if he were still in the White House.

The economy was also an important point of contention, with Harris accusing Trump of leaving the country with the “worst unemployment since the Great Depression.” Trump hit back with how she and Biden had handled inflation that has “been a disaster for people, for the middle class, for every class.”

At points the debate got personal and verged on name-calling, with Harris telling Trump that world leaders described him as a “disgrace” and Trump calling Harris “the worst vice-president in history.”

Let the polls roll in: Prior to the debate, the two candidates appeared to be neck and neck for the US government’s top job. In the coming days, we’ll get more of a sense of how each candidate’s performance played with potential voters, as the US presidential elections, only 54 days away, inch closer.

WHILE IN FINANCE NEWS- The US Federal Reserve has halved its proposed increase in capital requirements for the US’ biggest banks from 19% to 9%, the central bank’s top regulator Michael Barr announced yesterday. The lower increase represents a big win for the banking lobby, which has decried the capital requirement hike as damaging for the economy and potentially crimping lending since it was first proposed last year.

The “reproposal,” as Barr has called it, will still introduce capital requirements related to operational risk for banks with USD 250 bn in assets — one of the key targets of banking sector lobbying efforts. Assessments of operational risk, however, will now exclude asset management and other of banks’ biggest non-lending businesses. The new proposal has also nixed provisions that adjust capital requirements based on past operational losses, and has reduced risk weighting on certain kinds of financing deals.

AND ON THE OIL MARKETS- Oil futures reached near three-year lows yesterday after OPEC’s downward revision of its demand forecasts for 2024 and 2025, Reuters reports. Brent crude futures were down USD 2.65 or 3.69% yesterday to USD 69.19 at market’s close.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Sharjah will host the inaugural Regional Data and Community Development Forum on 9-10 October at Al Jawaher Reception and Convention Centre, Wam reports. The two-day event will bring together over 100 global experts to explore data’s impact on sectors like healthcare, education, and sustainability. The event will feature over 60 activities, including talks, panel discussions, and workshops, all aimed at exploring how data can foster development.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Judo tournament will take place from 10-13 October at the Mubadala Arena, Wam reports. The tournament will feature top national teams from the Paris 2024 Olympics, including France, Britain, and Mongolia.

The Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open returns to the International Tennis Centre, Zayed Sports City, from 1-8 February 2025. The WTA 500 event will feature 28 singles players and 16 doubles teams.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

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