Bns of investments in Germany, India, and Musk’s Boring Company

1

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: UAE to invest EUR 40 bn in Germany. Plus: Odisha’s visit to UAE sees IHC + Adani partner on USD 22 bn in agreements

Good morning, everyone. Today’s issue reads like the UAE’s checkbook got caught in a wind tunnel — bns of USD scattered across continents before most of us had finished our coffee.

The sums, for those keeping score: EUR 40 bn (USD 46.5 bn) pledged to Germany, up to USD 22 bn on the table with India's Odisha, USD 3 bn into Elon Musk's tunnel-building outfit, USD 1 bn into China's biggest coffee chain.

Here's the pattern underneath the pattern: Almost every one of these cheques is heading somewhere far from home — Berlin, New Delhi, Beijing. Closer to home, the picture is messier: Algeria formally severed diplomatic ties with the UAE yesterday, the sharpest note yet in a relationship that's been fraying for years over Western Sahara and Sahel alignments.

While everyone else was tallying pledges, we picked up the phone and asked UAE retailers what the war actually did to their sales floor. The answer was nuanced: Destination malls built on tourist footfall lost half their sales overnight — while shops built on local, resident customers didn't just hold up, some had their best quarter in years. Read more in our Big Story Today.

WATCH THIS SPACE- Brics leaders land in New Delhi this weekend with their widest divisions on record — a room where the UAE’s balancing act between two blocs will be worth watching — and the Fed's FOMC meets Tuesday and Wednesday.

On deck for the week: Arabian Travel Market opens Monday, Altinvest convenes Wednesday, and we'll be watching whether DP World and FAB's tightened bond pricing this week marks the start of a broader reopening for Gulf issuers — war or not.

UAE to invest EUR 40 bn in Germany

President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Chancellor Friedrich Merz unveiled a EUR 40 bn (USD 46.5 bn) UAE investment package spanning industry, AI, digital infrastructure, and energy, during the president’s visit to Germany this week — more than doubling the EUR 34 bn Abu Dhabi has already put into the German economy, according to a joint declaration.

The pair also agreed to launch a German-UAE Investment Council and a new Strategic Dialogue meant to reboot the two countries' 2004 partnership, while 29 business-to-business agreements worth just over EUR 9.36 bn involving Adnoc, Masdar, RWE, and Covestro were also agreed, though no details have been disclosed as of yet. The pledge includes a commitment to develop 1 GW in data center capacity in Germany.

Berlin isn't a one-off — it's the latest entry in a growing ledger of Gulf mega-pledges. The UAE inked a nearly identical package with each of France and Italy last year, committing to 1 invest in 1 GW worth of data center capacity as part of a broader AI partnership, along with other energy-linked agreements in Italy. The France pledge has already yielded several ongoing projects, including a 1.4 GW AI data center campus near Paris which AI investor MGX is supporting, and a more recent USD 1 bn 50-satellite AI-enabled constellation project in France led by Emirati firms.

This lands even as the UAE sits five-plus months into a regional war that would give it every excuse to keep its capital close to home instead. Read together with the USD 30-50 bn AI/data-center commitment to France last year and the USD 40 bn and USD 51 bn pledges to Italy and Turkey, the pattern looks like a deliberate spread of sovereign firepower across partners who can help it diversify and secure supply chains and, ideally, host equipment production that helps route around export restrictions.

Yes, but: Big numbers don't always turn into big cheques. The UAE’s pledges haven’t been as productive elsewhere, with none of the USD 50 bn the UAE pledged in Canada last year having moved as Ottawa's own Major Projects Office said it simply has no shovel-ready projects to deploy the money into earlier this year. Germany looks further along — a signed council, a business forum, and named corporate partners tend to travel faster than a headline figure.

Odisha’s Abu Dhabi pitch bears fruit

India’s Adani Group and the UAE’s International Holding Group are exploring INR 2.1 tn (USD 22 bn) worth of agreements, as per the Chief Minister’s (CM) Office. The two will explore 14 projects that could employ as many as 868k people.

REMEMBER- Odisha’s chief minister’s visit to Abu Dhabi and Dubai wraps up today and has been targeting institutional capital and partnerships across manufacturing and infrastructure. IHC just this week joined a consortium backing the USD 1 bn equity raise for Adani Airport Holdings.

A sizable pitch: The proposed projects span the metal downstream industries, slurry pipelines, critical minerals, rare earths, chemicals, petrochemicals, renewable energy equipment, healthcare, industrial infrastructure, tourism, and the skills and sports infrastructure.

IN CONTEXT- The agreement expands on an MoU inked in July, initially focused on a USD 11.5 bn integrated aluminum complex — billed as India’s largest foreign investment in metals. So far, Odisha has identified land for two main parts of the aluminium project — an alumina refinery in Rayagada and a smelter in Sundargarh.

Plus: The state is exploring collaboration with petrochem major Borouge on a chemicals-processing complex that could use feedstock from Indian Oil’s planned petrochemicals plant at Paradip.

Algeria snaps ties with UAE

Algeria has severed diplomatic relations with the UAE, accusing it of a series of “provocative or hostile” actions, without specifying what prompted the decision, according to a statement from Algeria’s Foreign Ministry.

This is a sharp escalation in a relationship that had been deteriorating for years. Algeria’s Foreign Ministry said it had exhausted “all means of preserving bilateral relations” and gave the UAE Ambassador 48 hours to comply with the decision.

BACKGROUND- The rupture comes against a backdrop of diverging positions on regional issues, particularly over Western Sahara, where the UAE backs Morocco’s sovereignty claim, while Algeria supports the Polisario Front. The two countries also have divergent alliances in the Sahel region.

UAE pushes back: The UAE said it “hopes this decision will be temporary” and reaffirmed the “importance it attaches to its relations with all countries and its commitment to developing and strengthening them,” including with Algeria, in a statement on Wam. Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, also took to X shortly after Algeria’s announcement and said, without explicitly naming Algeria, that diplomacy should be based on “rationality, communication and clarity of interests” instead of “riddles and signals that require decoding,”

PSA

WEATHER- The mercury will reach 43°C in Dubai today, before cooling to 32°C, and 42°C in Abu Dhabi before cooling to 30°C, according to our favorite weather app.

The big story abroad

We have an AI paradox this morning. The industry's loudest safety warning yet landed the same day as one of its strongest earnings prints. Anthropic said it disrupted a Russia-linked espionage campaign and the largest known “distillation” attempt against Claude — Alibaba allegedly ran 151 mn-plus exchanges with the model to train its Qwen models, while Moonshot and DeepSeek allegedly harvested live customer chats — and blocked researchers in China, Russia, and Yemen from using Claude on weapons software, plus several bioweapons-research attempts.

This all unfolded against the backdrop of a wider debate over whether AI is moving too fast. OpenAI's Sam Altman is now said to be weighing whether to pace development after chief scientist Jakub Pachocki warned no one's prepared for the speed of progress, and Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon quit this week accusing both labs of “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives” — a post viewed more than 150 mn times.

None of that anxiety is showing up in the money yet. Oracle's first-quarter revenue rose 30% to USD 19.3 bn and adjusted earnings beat forecasts at USD 1.92 a share, easing fears its AI buildout was straining the balance sheet. The company booked over USD 30 bn of fresh AI cloud contracts, pushing its backlog to a record USD 664 bn, and held its USD 90-95 bn spending target even as free cash flow beat expectations at negative USD 5.4 bn. Shares rose 4% in extended trading.

CLOSER TO HOME- Iran-aligned Houthi forces seized the port city of Mocha and pushed toward the Hanish islands near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea route Saudi Arabia has leaned on since the Hormuz corridor effectively closed to a fifth of global oil flows. Brent crude rose to USD 108.68 a barrel and WTI to USD 103.45, putting both benchmarks on track to close a week above USD 100 for the first time in nearly four months.

That oil spike is now colliding with bond markets too. The 10-year US Treasury yield climbed to 4.96% on Friday — its highest since 2023 and closing in on the psychologically loaded 5% mark — as traders priced in roughly a 70% chance the Fed raises rates on 16 September. A hotter-than-expected US inflation reading due Friday could tip it either way. (Bloomberg)

***

You’re reading EnterpriseAM UAE, your essential daily roundup of business, economics, and must-read news about the UAE, delivered straight to your inbox. We’re out Monday through Friday by 7am UAE time.

EnterpriseAM UAE is available without charge thanks to the generous support of our friends at Mashreq and Hassan Allam Properties.

Were you forwarded this email? Tap or click here to get your own copy of EnterpriseAM UAE.

Want to send us a story idea, request coverage, ask for a correction, or otherwise get in touch? Reach out to us on [email protected].

DID YOU KNOW that we also cover Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the MENA logistics industry?

***

Circle your calendar

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

Local demand shields retail players as tourist-heavy locations feel the pressure

It’s been a tale of two markets for the UAE’s retail sector in recent months. As falling tourist numbers hit headlines, the effect has been different on Emirates-based businesses with a more local client base, and those in tourist-heavy locations. Of the former, some tell us the period actually turned out to be one of stability, and even growth for some.

BACKGROUND- Major destination malls did see a dip in traffic: “The loss of tourism following the conflict has affected footfall in the major malls,” Fitch’s Head of Corporate Ratings for Middle East and Africa Paul Lund tells EnterpriseAM. Sales were down by almost 50% in March at Mall of the Emirates, Director of Research & Advisory at GRMC Advisory Services Subodh Panangatt tells us. The number of tourists fell dramatically since the conflict hit, with DXB handling fewer passengers, down 31.3% y-o-y, and hotel occupancy falling a similar 30.3% y-o-y to 56.4% in the first half of the year.

“Super-regional malls felt the sharpest impact initially,” Panangatt says. Destination assets relying heavily on international visitors felt the brunt in particular, he adds, because tourists often show up in an outsized portion of spending, accounting for 20-25% of sales despite making up 15-20% of footfall.

Teeb Perfumes, a UAE-based fragrance brand, saw a downturn in traffic at its Global Village Dubai location on the back of the fall in tourist numbers, founder Noushad Ponnambath tells us. The store had to close for several days, and some areas of customer flow and sales were down by 10-30% during that period. Despite this, its local customer base supported sales during the period, and overall activity is now picking back up, he says.

On the flip side, at Maison Arabelle’s locations in malls catering more to a local demographic, footfall and sales were a different story. The luxury abaya and kaftan atelier actually recorded an uptick in customer traffic and sales, with 2Q 2026 footfall at its Dubai store rising 85% y-o-y before dipping slightly in 3Q over the summer, though remaining up 49% y-o-y, founder and CEO Amina Bouchiba tells EnterpriseAM. Their stores are in Wafi Mall in Dubai and Reem Mall in Abu Dhabi — both noted for an affluent customer base largely made up of Emiratis and long-term residents from the GCC and further afield.

Similarly, sales were largely steady for the period for wearable art brand Nasab Art, a UAE-based small business, founder Safiya Al Mahri told us. UAE residents and locals make up the lion’s share of Nasab’s customer base.

The bottom line here: Super-regional malls with more of a cushion from a higher resident base clientele bounced back more quickly, while “more purely destination-led, tourist-dependent malls are still on the path to recovery,” Panangatt tells us. Sales were also skewed after the usual 20-25% sales contribution from tourists fell to 5-10%, with revenue mixes shifting toward residents, he adds.

Everyone had to adapt, though

Longer shipping times from China prompted Nasab to look inward to UAE-based suppliers instead for materials like buttons. Al Mahri describes the experience as “an eye-opener,” showing her the risks in a business model with reliance on overseas suppliers.

This is a trend we’ve been tracking elsewhere: More firms have been switching to domestic suppliers in the past couple of months, S&P Global Purchasing Managers Index for August showed, with Senior Economist at S&P Global David Owen telling us the disruptions have “encouraged firms to diversify and enjoy the benefits of having local suppliers,” possibly leading to businesses retaining stronger local relationships as part of a broader, more long-term risk-management strategy.

Maison Arabelle credits another part of its growth to a resilient inventory and to securing supplies ahead of time, keeping its operations more insulated from the logistical disruptions, Bouchiba says. Its overall production is also entirely in-house within the UAE. However, for certain high-quality materials — think silk from South Korea or linen from India — rethinking sourcing isn’t much of an option. For those international orders, “delivery times took a little longer, but we didn’t stop and the product always reached the customer,” Bouchiba says.

Hospitality players had spent time during the period to work on upgrades, and that logic seems to be present within the retail space as well, as Bouchiba tells us that Maison Arabelle expanded its workforce and also opened a new workshop.

State-backed help was there too: Dubai’s Economy and Tourism Department ran a 3-day Super Sale in May, Panangatt notes. Similarly, the Mallathon and Walk to Unlock also ran to try to bring footfall and subsequent sales back into the sector, he says. Such moves mirror a wider drive, especially in Dubai, to roll out support, with economic relief programs worth AED 2.5 bn in total targeting affected sectors like tourism, trade, customs, and aviation.

Firms also ran promotions and initiatives consistently through the period, Panangatt tells us. Teeb Perfumes opted for marketing campaigns, reductions, and product offers to support sales, Ponnambath says, while Bouchiba notes that malls, especially those connected to hotels, rolled out programs like games to encourage engagement with the retail experience.

An online presence helps: “With the changing customer flow, we have also put greater focus on social media… and online presence,” Ponnambath tells us, with Teeb Perfumes doubling down on social media channels, as well as WhatsApp Business, Amazon, Noon, and its website to support sales and mitigate a temporary dip in physical customer traffic.

Background: Online retail revenue has increased by over 64% to USD 9.2 bn this year, according to Dubai South, citing Statista data, and Panangatt notes a spike in online orders during the conflict.

The outlook

Fitch is looking toward November for a recovery, when non-regional airlines resume flights, supporting tourism and a potential rebound in retail expenditure toward the end of the year, Lund says. A certain degree of cushioning came from population growth, he adds, as 160k more residents came to Dubai this year as of August.

International names also seem to be doubling down, war or not. Several international players entered the UAE market at the start of this year and are eyeing more expansion. In September, Primark announced plans to open its first-ever store in KSA, after launching its first Dubai shop in March near the start of the conflict, and expanding with two others across Dubai. US-based Ulta Beauty also opened several stores this year, and Majid Al Futtaim is also planning new openings across its wider portfolio.

On the ground, there’s a sense of optimism among businesses, with Maison Arabelle and Nasab both planning regional and international expansion for the coming period, citing continued demand from a reliable customer base, while Teeb Perfumes is looking to markets in India, the US, and the UK.

UAE investors lead USD 3 bn round in The Boring Company as tunnel plans go national

UAE capital is leading a USD 3 bn wager on Elon Musk’s The Boring Company: The tunnelling and transport infrastructure firm raised a Series D led by the UAE and affiliated investment entities, valuing TBC at USD 23 bn, according to a company statement. The investment will accelerate an expanded UAE partnership covering more than 150 km of tunnels, on top of its existing Dubai Loop project.

Who’s involved: Dubai-based Shamal Holding is among the investors in the new round, alongside major backers including Sequoia Capital, a16z, and Temasek, and Dubai-based firm Vy Capital, set up by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. alums Alexander Tamas and Mateusz Szeszkowski in 2013 and a backer of Musk’s other ventures. Shamal stressed that its stake is a private commercial investment in TBC, separate from the government-level Dubai Loop agreement with RTA, according to Khaleej Times. The other UAE investors involved were not named.

Background: Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) first signed an MoU with TBC in February 2025 to explore a local version of its Las Vegas Loop. We reported at the time that the proposal covered 17 km and 11 stations. By February this year, the plan had expanded to 22.2 km and 19 stations, carrying an AED 2 bn investment ticket and targeting up to 30k passengers a day.

The first stretch is moving toward construction. The AED 565 mn pilot will run 6.4 km between Dubai International Financial Center and Dubai Mall. TBC says precast production is already underway, with tunnelling due to begin in late 2026. Khaleej Times identifies the four stations as Burj Khalifa, DIFC 2, Zabeel Dubai Mall Parking, and ICD Brookfield Place.

And Dubai now looks like the opening act: The new partnership calls for more than 150 km of tunnels across the UAE — nearly seven times the length of the planned Dubai Loop alone. TBC has yet to disclose where those additional tunnels will run, how much individual projects will cost, or when they will be delivered.

The UAE’s Musk portfolio keeps growing. MGX has backed xAI, G42 has invested in Neuralink, and MGX, Alpha Dhabi, and IHC have direct or indirect exposure to SpaceX. The UAE’s TBC stake adds underground transport to a growing UAE investment footprint across Musk’s AI, space, and neurotechnology businesses.

Mubadala buys into Luckin Coffee in a USD 1 bn transaction

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala will take a minority stake in Luckin Coffee, China’s biggest coffeehouse chain by store count, alongside Centurium Capital — Luckin Coffee's controlling shareholder — in a transaction worth roughly USD 1 bn, it said in a statement yesterday. Mubadala didn't disclose how much of that USD 1 bn is its own check.

The investment is the latest in a series of investments in China, which have reached around USD 20 bn across 100-plus investments since it entered the market in 2015. The fund has in recent years been chasing bigger minority, buyout, and late-stage positions in Chinese firms, counting Shein and Dalian Wanda's mall business among its recent investments.

Luckin itself isn't a clean story…: It was delisted from Nasdaq in 2020 after disclosing employees had fabricated roughly USD 300 mn in sales, triggering a US bankruptcy filing and an SEC settlement. Centurium backed the turnaround, and Luckin has since overtaken Starbucks as China's largest coffee chain by sales. It runs more than 36k stores globally against Starbucks' roughly 40k, according to the Financial Times.

… which is likely why Mubadala will keep a close watch with a board seat: The FT says Mubadala will nominate a director to Luckin's board — the kind of governance seat Mubadala has been pushing for more often as it writes bigger checks.

What’s interesting is where Mubadala is investing its money in China. It’s focused squarely on the retail and consumption front, staying away from sectors like tech amid heightened US scrutiny, as Abu Dhabi works to preserve its own access to advanced American technology. Mubadala-backed AI giant G42 had to divest all of its Chinese holdings earlier to persuade the US to give it chip export approvals for chips G42 needed for its AI buildout at home.

What's next: The transaction still needs to clear customary closing conditions, with no completion date given.

DP World priced a dual-tranche issuance at 25bp tighter than initial price thoughts

DP World tightens pricing on EUR, USD bonds: Dubai ports and logistics major DP World priced EUR 750 mn of six-year green notes at a 4.750% coupon — 150bp over mid-swaps, yielding 4.883% — alongside USD 750 mn of 10-year conventional notes at 6.250%, also 150bp, this time over US Treasuries, yielding 6.347%, Zawya reports. The firm had mandated a roadshow for the dual-tranche issuance earlier this week.

Investors showed up. Both tranches tightened 25bp from IPTs of around 175bp. Order books closed above EUR 1.5 bn and USD 1.3 bn — excluding joint lead manager interest, so real demand was likely higher — for agreements carrying DP World's Baa2 (Moody's) / BBB+ (Fitch) ratings, both with a stable outlook. Both tranches list on the London Stock Exchange's International Securities Market and Nasdaq Dubai.

The issuance comes as DP World is mid-expansion: Just this week, DP World and Kenya's GulfCap Africa signed a shareholders' agreement to advance the 222-hectare Mombasa Industrial Park, with the first 40-hectare phase already drawing interest from more than 60 companies. DP World first announced the project in August; the industrial park sits less than 20 km from Mombasa's port and gives the company a foothold in the gateway economy. There's no indication the bond proceeds are earmarked for Mombasa specifically, but the timing underlines that this is a company raising capital while actively deploying it elsewhere, not one raising defensively.

BACKGROUND- FAB priced its own USD 500 mn five-year senior unsecured bond earlier this week ago at T+90bp — also 25bp tighter than its T+115bp initial talk, on more than USD 1 bn of orders. That already marked a narrowing from spreads earlier during the war, like March’s peak (108bp) and closer to January's 79bp low. The identical 25bp compression on both issuances is a signal that Gulf issuers, across sectors, investor ratings, and tenors, are still drawing demand from global investors, war or not.

Adia widened private market allocations in 2025 as it leans into PE, hedge funds, and secondaries

Adia is making more room for private equity and hedge funds: The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority raised its long-term private equity allocation range to 15-20% from 12-17%, while financial alternatives — which include hedge fund strategies — moved to 7-12% from 5-10%, according to its 2025 annual review (pdf). The roughly USD 1 tn sovereign fund is positioning for a rebound in buyouts and greater volatility in public markets, Bloomberg reports.

The portfolio is also running more in-house: Active strategies made up 57% of its portfolio in 2025, up from 54% a year earlier, with some 63% of assets managed internally, according to the review. Developed equities remain its biggest allocation band at 32-42%, while its geographic ranges were unchanged, with North America still taking the largest share at 45-60%.

The long game improved slightly too: Adia’s 20-year annualized return rose to 6.6% at the end of 2025 from 6.3% a year earlier, while its 30-year return edged up to 7.2% from 7.1%.

Private markets get more room

The timing for private equity got friendlier in 2025: Global buyout transaction value rose 23% y-o-y to USD 2.2 tn, while large-cap transactions jumped to 52% of transaction value from 35%. Public-to-private activity climbed 67%, and global exits topped USD 1 tn for the first time since 2021, with IPO activity reaching its strongest level outside the 2020-21 peak.

But private equity still has a USD 3.7 tn traffic jam: That’s the value of assets held for more than five years. Fundraising also fell 22% y-o-y and remains more than 40% below its 2021 peak, pushing managers toward alternative liquidity routes; continuation vehicles — which let GPs move assets into new funds rather than sell them outright — accounted for 14% of exits last year.

Adia is playing both sides of that squeeze: Its private equity arm participated in GP-led secondaries and single-asset continuation vehicles, anchored a China-focused portfolio managed by CDH Investments, and leaned into take-privates including Dayforce and Hologic. On the way out, it sold stakes in Pension Ins. Corporation and IFCO, while portfolio company Medline returned to public markets in what Adia says was 2025’s largest IPO globally.

That liquidity playbook has carried into 2026: We reported in March that Adia teamed up with Ardian on a real estate secondaries platform after anchoring a USD 770 mn CDH continuation vehicle. It has also been widening its private-credit exposure, including through a significant risk transfer fund with Christofferson Robb & Company and an APAC real estate credit strategy with Dignari Capital Partners.

Hedge funds get a wider lane

Adia had a good reason to give alternatives more room: Its Financial Alternatives Department delivered strong absolute returns in 2025 with little correlation to equity markets, according to the review, as macro, relative-value and credit strategies benefited from market swings. The department also continued expanding its managed-account platform.

That managed-account push is already huge: Last year, Adia had around USD 40 bn invested across dozens of hedge funds through separately managed accounts, with the exposure rising by several bns of USD during 2025. Earlier that year, it bought a minority stake in Innocap and selected the firm’s managed-account

And it’s not just Adia chasing hedge-fund returns: Abu Dhabi Investment Council has been working toward roughly USD 15 bn of global hedge fund exposure and this summer committed around USD 1 bn to macro fund Deem Global, while Lunate has also built exposure to Brevan Howard. Abu Dhabi isn’t merely attracting hedge funds to set up shop anymore; its sovereign investors are increasingly becoming some of their biggest clients.

for parts of its hedge fund and equity exposure.

Real estate shrinks on paper

Property was the notable move in the other direction — but this isn’t a sell-down: Adia cut its real estate allocation range to 2-7% from 5-10%, while absolute exposure remained steady as other asset classes grew faster. The fund still increased exposure to US senior housing, logistics and digital infrastructure in Greater China, and European residential strategies, while expanding real estate credit and selling completed investments across the US, Singapore and Europe.

The bigger sovereign playbook

AI infrastructure is pulling capital too: Adia committed USD 600 mn to Vantage’s APAC data-center platform in 2025 and invested more than USD 200 mn alongside an industry partner in operational US data centers. It also backed a US utility and gas-fired power-generation asset as electricity demand rises alongside the AI buildout. We flagged in June that sovereign funds increasingly see private credit and infrastructure as ways to capture AI’s capital demands without simply piling further into listed megacap tech.

REMEMBER- Gulf deployment isn’t slowing down: Gulf sovereign funds invested a record USD 53.9 bn across 108 transactions in 1H 2026 despite the regional conflict, with Gulf investors involved in 21 of the world’s 42 USD 1 bn+ sovereign mega-deals.

More big moves from Gulftainer, EGA, and Borouge + India’s PhonePe lands in the UAE

Gulftainer enters Thailand

Sharjah-based port operator Gulftainer has signed a binding agreement for a strategic investment in Suksawat Terminal, south of Bangkok — the Sharjah-based port operator's first entry into the Thai market, the company said in a press release. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Suksawat sits close to Bangkok's manufacturing and consumption base — automotive, electronics, petrochemicals, food, and consumer goods — with a barge link to Laem Chabang tying it into Thailand's deep-sea network. Gulftainer plans to invest in the terminal's capacity and productivity while building out inland logistics and industrial infrastructure around it.

The agreement slots into a broader expansion Gulftainer has been running since summer. The company launched a USD 2 bn global trade infrastructure strategy in July aimed at knitting ports, shipping, and supply-chain assets into one platform, and it's moving on that at home too, pushing flagship Khorfakkan past 10 mn TEUs of capacity and adding another 2-3 mn TEUs of inland logistics capacity.

BACKGROUND- Gulftainer is also not the only UAE port operator stepping into Thailand. DP World secured a five-year extension earlier this year to operate the B5 berth at Laem Chabang International Terminal through April 2031.

EGA adds an Italian piece to its recycling puzzle

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) wrapped up its acquisition of an 80% stake in Italian aluminium recycling company Eco Green, after securing regulatory approvals and meeting closing conditions, according to a press release. The company will be rebranded EGA Eco Green, while the Scappini family will retain a minority stake and stay involved in management.

More capacity: The pact, initially agreed upon in April, should bring EGA’s total global recycling capacity to over 400k tons per year across the UAE, US, Germany, and Italy. Another 200k tons are under development. Eco Green’s two plants process over 70k tons of aluminium scrap per year, and EGA sells 600k tons of primary aluminium to Europe per year.

IN CONTEXT- The move comes after the strike on EGA’s Al Taweelah facility forced it into force majeure, with production back up to 50% capacity as of July and full production slated to come back by year-end.

ADVISORS- On the sell-side, Eco Green and the Scappini family were advised by Lucio Leoni and Legance, with support from Riccardo Paganin, Carlotta Giani, and Emilio De Niro.

PhonePe’s international debut with a UAE license

India’s biggest digital payments app PhonePe has chosen the UAE for its international debut, securing a license from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), Moneycontrol reports, citing the firm’s founder Sameer Nigam’s announcement on the sidelines of the annual Global Fintech Festival in Mumbai.

The plans: Once operational, PhonePe plans to launch a digital wallet, prepaid gift cards, and remittance services for UAE residents, and possibly payments through local point-of-sale devices and money transfers to India.

IN CONTEXT- PhonePe holds the largest share of Unified Payments Interface payments, which was developed by the National Payments Corporation of India to send funds via instant transfer between accounts. It is already accepted in the country, but primarily as a payment rail for Indians traveling abroad. The license gives PhonePe scope to build for the UAE’s resident market.

Borouge 4 starts shipping higher-value cable material

Borouge International has started commercial deliveries from its new cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) plant at Borouge 4, adding 100k tons of annual capacity and doubling its XLPE output across Asia and the Middle East, state news agency Wam reports. The material is used in medium- and high-voltage terrestrial and subsea cables, giving Borouge more exposure to grid and data-center demand. The first batch was tested with UAE cable maker Ducab before shipments began.

The bigger picture: The plant is part of the wider Borouge 4 ramp-up, which will add 1.4 mn tons of annual capacity at Ruwais. Borouge expects the project to generate up to AED 1.47 bn in cumulative net income during its first three years and support nearly 10% annual earnings growth once fully ramped.

IN CONTEXT- The extra output is arriving as Borouge looks for more ways to get petrochemicals to market amid Hormuz disruptions. We previously reported that Borouge and AD Ports were exploring an east-coast export hub and new routes through Fujairah.

Brics leaders meet in New Delhi this week facing their widest divisions yet, even as India pushes for shared digital currencies

All eyes turn to New Delhi this weekend for a read on whether Brics can turn its size into real global sway, or whether a widening bloc just means less agreement. Leaders meet for the annual summit on 12-13 September with members split on the Middle East, Ukraine, and how to handle Trump's tariffs. Even so, India — this year's chair — is pushing Brics central banks to link up their digital currencies, sources told Reuters. It's the second time India has floated the idea; Brazil has separately pushed for a unified currency to challenge USD dominance.

Why it matters for the Gulf: Brics accounts for roughly a quarter of global nominal GDP — nearer 40% on a purchasing-power basis — and about half the world's population, spread across 10 full members after last year's addition of Indonesia and 2024's intake of Iran, the UAE, Ethiopia, and Egypt. Saudi Arabia, still listed as a member on Brics' own website, has never formally confirmed it joined.

Brics’s biggest advantage might lie in the energy sector. The group simultaneously hosts some of the largest global producers. In total, they wield considerable strength, accounting for 46% of total global oil exports. Energy cooperation via coordination between firms inside member nations, rather than in a joint energy policy, would be significant, S&P Global Energy’s Gauri Jauhar told First Post.

The bloc had already coordinated on a USD 100 bn emergency reserve fund back in 2015 to help member nations avoid liquidity pressures and act as a financial safety net. Similarly, it set up the New Development Bank, tasked with financing infrastructure and development in developing nations. As of May, it had deployed USD 42.9 bn in financing and provided backing to 139 projects.

But consensus keeps breaking down: Egypt and Indonesia backed a UN resolution calling on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, which other members abstained or voted against. Brics also condemned the US' 2025 airstrikes on Iran as a violation of international law but has issued no unified statement on the US-Israel war against Iran. Now, the UAE has severed all trade and financial ties with Iran following an escalation that had seen drones hit the UAE’s territorial waters, as well as Iranian attacks on UAE oil tankers.

Trump's tariffs split the bloc further: China responded with retaliatory levies, while others pledged fresh investment in the US to stay in Washington's good graces. Trump himself has dismissed Brics as fading fast and threatened extra tariffs on any country that leans into de-dollarization.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets are a sea of red amid a global selloff as oil prices jumped overnight on the back of regional escalation by the Houthis in Saudi Arabia, with South Korea’s Kospi leading declines, down 2.8%, and Japan’s Nikkei close behind at -2.6%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 1.4%, while the mainland’s CSI 300 lost 0.9%.

ADX	10,112	+0.1% (YTD: +1.2%)
DFM	5,904	-0.4% (YTD: -2.4%)
Nasdaq Dubai UAE20	4,884	+0.2% (YTD: +0.1%)
USD : AED CBUAE	Buy 3.67	Sell 3.67
EIBOR	3.4% o/n	4.7% 1 yr
TASI	10,007	-0.1% (YTD: +4.9%)
EGX30	56,280	-0.4% (YTD: +34.5%)
S&P 500	7,592	-0.6% (YTD: +10.9%)
FTSE 100	10,609	-0.6% (YTD: +6.8%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,269	-0.7% (YTD: +8.3%)
Brent crude	USD 108.53	+0.8%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 2.83	0.0%
Gold	USD 4,372.5	-0.8%
BTC	USD 77,254	-0.9% (YTD: -12.9%)
Lunate JP Morgan UAE Bond UCITS ETF	AED 3.57	-0.8% (YTD: -6.1%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	149.55	-0.4% (YTD: -1.6%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	17.84	+8.4% (YTD: +19.3%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The ADX rose 0.1% yesterday on turnover of AED 1.2 bn. The index is up 1.2% YTD.

In the green: Apex Investment (+5.1%), NMDC Group (+4.1%), and Waha Capital Company (+4.0%).

In the red: Sharjah Cement and Industrial Development Co. (-4.7%), Abu Dhabi National Co. for Building Materials (-3.7%), and Americana Restaurants International (-2.8%).

Over on the DFM, the index fell 0.4% on turnover of AED 420.9 mn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai was up 0.2%.

Issam Mamlouk left PIF's megadeals for the GCC's mid-market — where he says sponsors are outnumbered by deals

Issam Al Mamlouk, founder and CEO of I.M. Mamlouk & Co., spent years on the large-cap side of private equity — first at JPMorgan, then at Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) — before deciding the real opportunity in the region was the segment everyone else was ignoring. He left Riyadh for Abu Dhabi to build an ADGM-based platform focused squarely on mid-market businesses worth USD 50-250 mn in enterprise value: family businesses facing succession, sector consolidation plays — transactions too small for the mega-funds and too large for VCs.

Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a member of the community starts their day — and throws in a couple of questions just for fun. This week, we sat down with Al Mamlouk (LinkedIn) to talk about why he thinks the mid-market is underserved, what he looks for in a target business, and how he’s learned to make big decisions without having all the answers. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

EnterpriseAM: First thing’s first: Who are you? How would you introduce yourself to someone who doesn't know you?

Issam Mamlouk (IM): I’m the founder and CEO of I.M. Mamlouk & Co., a mid-market private equity platform based out of ADGM. Our investment focus is mid-market private equity businesses focused on the GCC. We believe this is one of the most exciting parts of the world to be in private markets.

We're sector agnostic, because we see exciting opportunities across multiple industries in the mid-market — manufacturing, industrials, business services, healthcare. All of those are growing at their own great clip regionally.

E: You were at JPMorgan and then moved to PIF. What made you decide to start something of your own?

IM: While I was working on large-cap private equity transactions, I noticed there's a very interesting opportunity in the mid-market. The large-cap space is very well covered. The VC side has a growing, thriving ecosystem. In the mid-market, I noticed there's significantly more deals than there are PE sponsors in the space — given economic diversification, a lot of succession happening in family businesses, and the ability to roll up and consolidate industries. This doesn't come around very often, so I went and started a platform dedicated to doing that.

E: What do you actually look for in a business before you invest?

IM: We look for businesses where we can add value — governance, financial, operations — and partner with the management team and shareholders on a path forward for the next five to seven years.

Founder dependence is something very important we look at. If a business has been around for 30 or 40 years and is still very founder-heavy, that's fine if there's a willingness to build a deep bench in management. But if the business wouldn’t do well without the founder, that's tricky for us.

We also look at growing markets. You can buy a great business, but if the sector is declining, that's a difficult investment over five or six years. And transparency and accountability, with everyone we work with — counterparties, sellers, stakeholders — matter a lot to us.

E: What's your read on the market given how uncertain things are geopolitically right now?

IM: M&A activity in the mid-market continued to do well through the first half of 2026, with a strong uptick in the second quarter. We expect to see even more activity in the second half — in line with previous years, where sponsors try to close transactions before year-end. We're quite optimistic and we still think this is one of the most exciting places to invest in private markets globally, and we'll be investing here for decades to come.

E: There's a lot of large-cap PE money flowing into the region now too. What do you think about that competition?

IM: It's exciting, actually — it's great for the ecosystem, great for the financial markets, and great for mid-market exits. One of the things people always look at in private equity is exits: if you buy a business for USD 100 mn and you're looking to sell it for USD 300-400 mn in five years, an IPO is one route, but now you also have large-cap global firms looking at transactions in the region. It complements everything we're doing.

E: Take us through your morning.

IM: I'm usually up around 5:30am. I spend about 45 minutes catching up on financial news, scanning what's happening locally and globally across public and private markets, fixed income, and interest rates. Then I spend about 45 minutes at the gym. After that I try to always have breakfast with my wife and kids before heading to work, and I'm usually at my desk around 8:30am.

E: And the rest of the day?

IM: That's the interesting part of running a business — every day is different. Some days you're in back-to-back meetings, some days you're in a conference room going through financials and diligence reports, some days you're just traveling. It's much less predictable than a typical role. I try to be home for dinner — even though I usually work in the evening too. It's a nice way to disconnect. Phone away for 45 minutes, have dinner, recap the day, then get back to work if I need to.

E: Five years from now, what does success look like, for the business and for you personally?

IM: On the business side, it's important that we invest in local businesses that end up expanding regionally. I want us to be turning a USD 100 mn business into a regional champion across multiple countries and into a USD 300-400 mn business. That lets us contribute to the ecosystem, the economy, create jobs, and expand industries.

Personally, I want to keep mentoring individuals who want to be in financial services or investment. If somebody I'm helping today is in a mid-level or senior role somewhere in five years, that matters a lot to me.

Issam's picks

What he's reading: I really enjoy The Sherlock Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle.

What he's watching: The Guy Ritchie catalog on Netflix, like The Gentlemen and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Favorite piece of advice: Be comfortable making decisions with imperfect information — you'll never have 100% of the data, and overanalyzing is worse than failing quickly and moving on.

CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER

12-13 September (Saturday-Sunday): Emirates International Congress on AI & Visionary Leadership in Transforming Healthcare, Adnec Center Abu Dhabi.

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;
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.

Sections

About

Privacy & Support