Good morning, friends, and welcome to the first business day of September. We’re back after a fairly quiet weekend, but we come bearing news on the IPO and M&A fronts.

In a nutshell: NMDC’s IPO seems to be headed for a strong start and Brookfield Asset Management is courting ADQ to join its bid to acquire Spanish biopharma outfit Grifols.

MEANWHILE- A consortium led by Masdar has lined up a USD 900 bn investment in solar plants in Egypt and Adani Ports has acquired an 80% stake in Dubai’s Astro Offshore.

^^ We have the rundown on these stories and more below in this morning’s news well.

IN THE MARKETS-

#1- The order book for the National Marine Dredging Company Energy’s (NMDC Energy) ADX IPO was 7x oversubscribed as of yesterday, according to a statement. The offering saw “strong investor interest” despite the second day of the subscription falling on a weekend, the company said. Investors have until Wednesday, 4 September, to get their orders in.

BACKGROUND- NMDC is listing a 23% stake in its engineering, procurement and construction unit, NMDC Energy, on the ADX. The transaction is due to wrap up on 11 September. Offer shares are priced at AED 2.80 apiece, valuing the transaction at AED 3.22 bn. NMDC’s board approved the IPO last month.

ADVISORS- First Abu Dhabi Bank is lead receiving bank and lead manager, with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, WIO Bank, and Al Maryah Community Bank also acting as receiving banks. International Securities is lead placement, while Hadef & Partners is legal counsel and Ernst & Young has audit duties.

#2- Could ADQ join Brookfield’s bid to acquire Spain’s Grifols? Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management held discussions with Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ and Singapore’s GIC, among other sovereign funds, to potentially join its bid to acquire Spanish blood-plasma company Grifols, Bloomberg reports, citing people it says are familiar with the matter.

Brookfield and the Grifols family aim to take the company private, but they have not made a formal offer to Grifols' board pending due diligence. The offer could value the company at around USD 8.9 bn, the business information service writes.

#3- The Bank of Sharjah plans to auction five-year USD-denominated bonds, with banks already hired to manage the issuance, Reuters reports, citing a transaction-related document. The issuance would fall under the lender’s USD 2.5 bn euro medium-term note program. Investor meetings started on Friday. No details were given on the value of the bonds.

ADVISORS- Our friends at Mashreq are joint lead managers and bookrunners along with First Abu Dhabi Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait, Bank ABC, Citi, Doha Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, Kamco Invest, QNB Capital, and Standard Chartered.

DATA POINTS-

#1- The federal e-commerce market is expected to be worth AED 40.4 bn this year and is on track to grow to AED 69.7 bn by 2029, Al Etihad reports, citing a report by Mordor Intelligence, good for a compound annual growth rate of 11.5%.

Our collective sweet tooth is driving growth: Food — particularly sweets, sugar, chocolate, and pastries — is the big growth drive alongside consumer electronics (including smartphones, laptops, and tablets) as well as home electronics.

#2- The total number of private-sector companies operating in the UAE stood at 526k at the end of 1H 2024, a 16% rise over the comparable figure for the end of 1H 2023, Alkhaleej reports, citing data from the Human Resources and Emiratisation Ministry.

#3- Jebel Ali Port set a new record for monthly container handling capacity in July 2024, with 1.4 mn twenty foot equivalent units, according to a statement, beating the previous record set in 2015. The growth came on the back of a robust 1H 2024 performance, as the port saw a 3.9% y-o-y increase to 7.3 mn TEUs, driven by high inbound cargo from key Asian markets, including China, Japan, and South Korea.

WORTH READING-

#1- The Financial Times is out with a long take on Sheikhs Hamdan and Maktoum, the sons of Dubai ruler and United Arab Emirates prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, highlighting their roles in both stewardship of the economy and business climate and raising Dubai’s global profile. You can read the full story here.

#2- UAE tops Mena in soft power: The UAE ranked first in “soft power” in the Mena region and tenth globally in the 2024 according to the Brand Finance Soft Power Index(pdf).

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS-

#1- A visa overstay amnesty program kicked off yesterday, giving residents until 1 November to get their paperwork in order or to leave the country without finds, according to a decision issued by the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs, and Port Security last month. Some embassies — including those of Pakistan and India — are keeping their doors open on weekends to assist with passport renewals and other documentation needs, the National reports.

#2- Employers who violate the new labor law, which entered into force on 31 August, could face fines between AED 100k and AED 1 mn. Violations of the labor law, which the government introduced last month, include employing staff without a permit, misusing work permits, shutting down a business without settling employees’ dues, hiring minors, or faking the employment of Emiratis to comply with Emiratization quotas.

#3- Dubai inaugurates two bridges on Al Khail Road: Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) opened two bridges on Al Khail Road at Zaa’beel and Al Quoz 1, according to the Dubai Government Media Office. The two bridges have a cumulative capacity of around 8k vehicles per hour.

#4- You’ll be paying less at the pump this month: The Fuel Price Committee decreased fuel prices for September by around 6% after a 2% price hike last month, Wam reports. The breakdown for one liter:

• Super 98: AED 2.90;
• Special 95: AED 2.78
• E-Plus 91: 2.71.
• Diesel: AED 2.78 (down from AED 2.95 last month)

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

#1- Dubai Fashion Week’s spring / summer 2025 program kicked off yesterday, co-founded by Dubai Design District (d3) and the Arab Fashion Council. You can check out theofficial program here. It runs through Saturday, 7 September.

#2- The UAE is hosting the latest session of the Arab Economic and Social Council (AESC). The sessions kicked off yesterday and run through Thursday, Wam reports.

What’s on the agenda? The Social Committee, which met yesterday, discussed education, the role of social support in equal learning opportunities. The Economic Committee will address food security, agricultural development, sustainable management of pastoral resources, and aquaculture.

#3- The International Government Communication Forum is scheduled to take place on 4-5 September at the Expo Centre in Sharjah. Wam has more.

#4- du’s annual tech event Envision will take place on Thursday, 5 September at the Atlantis the Royal in Dubai, the telecom outfit said in a statement. The event will host policymakers and industry leaders to explore the use of 5G, cloud, AI, and data analytics across various sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, education, real estate, banking, transport, and agriculture.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

The war on Gaza continues to dominate headlines this morning on day 331 of the conflict. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced increasing pressure from leaders abroad to accept a ceasefire. He’s also facing public pressure at home.

Crowds of up to 500k took to the streets in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and other Israeli cities to protest Netanyahu’s continued stalling on a ceasefire agreement, which protestors claim is impeding the return of the remaining 101 hostages after the bodies of six others were recently recovered. The country’s biggest labor union threw its weight behind protests early this morning, calling for a general strike with the apparent blessing of Israeli manufacturers and other companies.

The protests reflect an increasingly polarized Israeli society say much of the commentariat, with right-wing politicians threatening to bring down Netanyahu’s political coalition if he accepts a ceasefire agreement. On the far right of the country’s already far right cabinet, Israeli Finance Minister Bazalel Smotrich called on the country’s attorney general to block the planned labor strike, accusing protesters of “fulfilling (Hamas chief Yahyeh) Sinwar’s dream.”

WHILE IN INT’L BUSINESS NEWS- On an otherwise quiet day in the world of business, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger’s plan to rejuvenate the company’s fortunes is catching the attention of the international press. Gelsinger and other top executives are slated to present a plan to the company’s board later this month that will propose breaking up some of Intel’s key businesses in its efforts to start reclaiming some ground between it and competitors like chipmaker Nvidia.

AND OVER IN EUROPE- Germany’s far-right has taken its first state election since World War II, with the once-marginalized far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) cruising to victory in the regional election for the state of Thuringia. The party won 32.8% of the vote, leading its main rival — the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) — by a margin of over nine percentage points. Next door in Saxony, the CDU is expected to barely edge out the AfD with 31.9% of the vote to AfD’s 30.6%.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The PPP MENA Forum will take place on 10-11 September 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.

The inaugural Dubai AI & Web3 Festival will be held on 11-12 September 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.

Abu Dhabi Finance Weekwill be held from 9-12 December 2024. The event, hosted by the Abu Dhabi Global Market, will include 50 events and sub-events that will explore the emirate’s financial, human, cultural, environmental and technological facets.

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