More Dubai stimulus + Core42 lands massive trade finance package to back its deployment overseas

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: Dubai Investments Park is still pushing ahead with IPO plans + Bildco looks to Oman for logistics project

Good morning, lovely people. We’ve finally made it to what’s effectively the end of the month — yes, Monday will be a working day for many, but most of the people we know are bridging as schools and the public sector take the week off.

That includes us…

**A QUICK PROGRAMMING NOTE: EnterpriseAM UAE will be taking a publication holiday and will be back in your inboxes at the regular time on Monday, 1 June.

We head into the long Eid break none the wiser on the exact status of US-Iran talks, though there are some “good signs” that an agreement is closer than before, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Financial Times. Iran has also said the latest US proposal “has narrowed the gaps to some extent” though sticking points remain.

The sticking points remain the same: Tehran wants to keep its enriched uranium, and is reportedly in talks with Oman about setting up a permanent toll system to formalize its control of the Strait of Hormuz. US President Donald Trump rejected the idea, saying “we want it open, we want it free, we don’t want tolls.” Iran’s president said his country wouldn’t back down in the talks.

The UAE’s stance is the same as the US’. UAE officials have also said Hormuz cannot be under the control of any single country.

Adnoc CEO Sultan Al Jaber also just gave a bleak outlook for oil flows through the Strait, saying he doesn’t expect them to return to pre-war levels anytime before 1H 2027, Reuters reports.

Al Jaber said it would take at least four months just to return to 80% of pre-conflict flows, warning that allowing one country to hold “the world’s most important waterway hostage” sets a “dangerous precedent.”

As the situation remains murky, IPO plans are being deferred and more stimulus is heading for Dubai firms — from education to tourism and transport. And UAE firms are continuing to double down on their plans abroad: Core42 has now secured USD 550 mn from HSBC to accelerate AI deployment in Europe and the US, while Mubadala’s Brazilian energy subsidiary will start working on a biofuels refinery after securing USD 1.5 bn in financing.

And in our Big Story Today, we look at the UAE’s stablecoins push — which, incidentally, might also help the UAE firms making bigger pushes abroad, with experts telling us stablecoins can offer a crucial liquidity bridge, particularly for firms operating and investing in fragile economies or developing markets.

DFM, ADX host investor days with EFG Hermes

The DFM and ADX both held investor days in partnership with EFG Hermes to help “strengthen investor confidence” amid “heightened regional uncertainty,” EFG Hermes said in press releases here (pdf) and here (pdf). The events brought together regional and international institutional investors and listed companies to discuss how companies are focusing on sustainable growth, capital allocation, and risk management and navigating current headwinds.

The signal out of both investor days? That companies listed on the DFM and ADX are showing continued stability, resilience, and in some cases, liquidity and institutional depth, as they navigate those headwinds. EFG Hermes said it expects those types of gatherings to “contribute meaningfully to supporting market liquidity and reinforcing the long-term structural appeal of [DFM- and ADX-] listed securities, subject to the evolution of regional security conditions and broader macroeconomic developments.”

The investor gatherings come as both stock exchanges, like many others across the region and in emerging markets, have seen some risk-off sentiment — especially earlier in the conflict — weigh on performance since the war began. The DFM is down 6.4% YTD, while the ADX is down 3.6%.

Still, IPO discussions aren’t being scrapped altogether — just delayed, as can be seen in this morning’s What We’re Tracking Today, with Dubai Investments saying it will still pursue its IPO of a stake in Dubai Investments Park sometime this year.

WEATHER- Look for a high of 39°C in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi today, before the mercury cools to 28°C, according to our favorite weather app.

Watch this space

IPO WATCH — There’s still some hope for at least one IPO this year: Dubai Investments said it remains committed to pursuing an IPO of a 24% stake in Dubai Investments Park (DIP) before the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and ongoing discussions, according to a DFM disclosure (pdf). The group said it is still assessing the “optimal timeline” while continuing talks with regulators, banks, and investors.

In context: Last month, Dubai Investments had flagged a potential October listing window after earlier targeting February, as regional market volatility and softer sentiment around real estate equities complicated IPO timing. Even then, management said DIP’s valuation held around AED 10.8-11 bn, with the 2.3k-hectare mixed-use development operating at roughly 90% occupancy.

Others are holding off for even longer: We recently reported that Dubai Holding is pausing preparations for its listing plans, while Emirates Global Aluminium has pushed its much-anticipated IPO back until at least next year.

FINANCE — Cantor is moving from market entry to full operations in Abu Dhabi: US investment bank Cantor secured final approval from ADGM’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority to conduct regulated financial activities, giving the firm a licensed base to expand its Middle East investment banking platform in the capital, according to a statement. The approval follows its in-principle authorization and Abu Dhabi office launch late last year, and comes after ADGM welcomed 961 new licenses in 1Q.

REFRESHER- Cantor’s Abu Dhabi office will anchor its regional investment banking and capital-markets push across equities, M&A, and advisory. The buildout is being led by our friend Ali Khalpey (LinkedIn), head of Middle East investment banking and capital markets.

INFRASTRUCTURE — More export hedges: Abu Dhabi National Company for Building Materials (Bildco) is studying a logistics project in Oman centered around an integrated hub at the Port of Salalah, alongside a collection and operations center in Sohar, according to a statement (pdf). The move would add storage, re-export, shipping, and logistics capacity aimed at strengthening UAE building-material trade flows to India, China, and East Africa through alternative corridors.

Part of a wider rerouting push: UAE firms are deepening export redundancy beyond the Strait of Hormuz, with Adnoc accelerating plans for its West-East pipeline and Borouge and AD Ports exploring an east-coast petrochemicals hub around Fujairah.

M&A WATCH — Gulf money in US media is hitting another political speed bump: Six Democratic senators have raised concerns over foreign ownership stakes — including those of sovereign wealth funds from Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar — in the proposed USD 111 bn Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, Reuters reports, citing a letter sent to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr.

REMEMBER- The transaction is backed by roughly USD 24 bn from Abu Dhabi’s L’imad and other GCC sovereign wealth funds.

The concern? Editorial influence. The lawmakers warned foreign governments could “exert unprecedented influence” over a media group controlling major US assets including CBS and CNN. Another US FCC official previously flagged the potential acquisition as a potential national security concern after the company sought approval to bypass US limits on foreign ownership of broadcasting assets.

We’ve seen this movie before: Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI’s Telegraph bid in the UK ultimately collapsed under similar pressure after Britain tightened rules blocking foreign state-backed ownership of national newspapers, forcing the JV into a sale to Germany’s Axel Springer.

What’s next: The FCC has already opened public comment on Paramount’s request, while the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US is expected to review the foreign investment angle — potentially adding another regulatory hurdle to the merger.

Another sign global institutions ♥️the region: UBS is moving two senior bankers to the region, including its Europe, Middle East and Africa head, Christl Novakovic, Bloomberg reports, citing a memo it has seen, without specifying where he will be located. The bank’s head of wealth management in the Middle East, Niels Zilkens, will also be relocating to Doha. The move will also see the wealth management unit reorganized to comprise of five coverage sectors as of 1 June, a separate memo reportedly said.

“The Middle East is central to our growth ambitions, offering significant long-term opportunities for both our business and our clients,” the bank’s global co-head of wealth management, Iqbal Khan, and the region’s president, Beatriz Martin Jimenez said in the memo. Bloomberg says the move also comes after the bank lost several senior wealth management bankers in the region in recent months amid heightened competition.

The big story abroad

The business press is squarely focused on AI this morning. SpaceX’s IPO prospectus is still getting attention, while OpenAI reportedly could be following suit with its own confidential prospectus as soon.

Trading frenzy ahead? The prospect of both of those hitting the Nasdaq this year as it also introduces “fast entry” rules that could see them join the Nasdaq 100 in just 15 days means there could be an AI “trading frenzy” that could see up to USD 95 bn in US tech stocks sold by passive investors to make way for the new stocks, the Financial Times reports.

Meanwhile, also in AI land, foreign private equity firms are buying out of China’s data center sector amid regulatory pressures, with Princeton Digital Group looking to sell USD 1 bn in assets.

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Why the UAE cares about stablecoins

For many in the region, stablecoins still sound like a far‑fetched gimmick — a tool reserved for crypto bros and late‑night traders. But if you’ve been paying attention to headlines in the UAE, they’re slowly creeping into much more of our day-to-day — stablecoins can now be used to settle government services fees and pay for flight tickets and taxi rides.

Some of you might think: Why would I want to pay for a flight ticket using stablecoins? Why is that a need? And the answer is: For many, it’s not a need. And that’s also not what building stablecoin infrastructure is about — the use cases for stablecoins stretch way beyond day-to-day retail usage.

The UAE has spent over a decade modernizing its financial infrastructure and creating a predominantly digital and cashless economy. While, yes, that’s helped streamline payments and make life easier for residents and citizens alike, the bigger picture is to become a global-facing economy that can interact with as many different players as possible, in the fastest and cheapest way possible.

The logical next step to achieve that? Building blockchain-based rails that could support cross-border transactions as well as offer optionality for people living in and visiting the UAE.

That’s why the UAE is on a major drive to create AED-backed stablecoins that can be used for trading, business treasury purposes, and even retail. AE Coin was the UAE’s first CBUAE-licensed stablecoin, with early adoption by Network International, 7X, Air Arabia, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, and Tawasul Taxis. Zand Bank secured approval for Zand AED, Rakbank received approval to launch its own stablecoin, while IHC, ADQ, and First Abu Dhabi Bank are also developing one.

**A quick primer for those who are unfamiliar: Stablecoins are a tokenized currency, backed 1:1 by liquid fiat reserves, whether that’s the USD, the AED, or another currency. Unlike BTC, whose value fluctuates based on market sentiment, stablecoins are linked to their fiat-denominated currency, offering more stability.

The current lay of the land

The UAE is currently building liquidity for blockchain-based payments and stablecoins, Economy and Tourism Department AI CEO and Dubai Blockchain Center CEO Marwan Alzarouni tells EnterpriseAM. “We’re scaling up that liquidity, but we’re doing so in a very gradual, measured way that also covers all of the technology and underlying infrastructure that is needed,” he explains.

The volume of stablecoins traded in the UAE across trade finance, remittances, and B2B settlement surged over 40% y-o-y in 2025, supported by a progressive regulatory landscape, CEO of decentralized finance trading platform DYDX and author of Arabian Crypto Charles D’Haussy tells EnterpriseAM.

“The market in the UAE is being activated by business first, while retail will follow after,” D’Haussy adds. How do businesses benefit from the use of stablecoins? “[Stablecoins] are really an infrastructural play that runs across many types of businesses,” Group Chief Strategy and Venture Officer at Fuze Serena Sebastiani tells us.

(Why should you to listen to Sebastiani? She led PwC’s fintech and digital asset platform for the Middle East for 15 years and has worked with regulators like the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, the Central Bank of the UAE, and the Saudi Central Bank.)

Crypto trading still accounts for around 60-65% of all use cases in the UAE, Sebastiani says, noting that other use cases are expanding. “We’re seeing more platforms and use cases for the AED-denominated stablecoins, but effectively it's still very early stages,” she adds.

B2B transactions are where stablecoins currently offer an immense value, experts tell us. “Stablecoins facilitate commercial trades, cross-border payments, cards, and collection in those countries where it's difficult to repatriate USDs or to get USD liquidity,” Sebastiani explains.

A workaround for FX volatility in foreign investment destinations?

The UAE’s foreign investment footprint is now massive. The likes of Adnoc, Taqa, DP World, Emirates, Etisalat, IHC, ADQ, and sovereign funds are present in dozens of developing markets — including countries with extreme political and financial instability. In countries like Egypt, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and post‑war Syria, USD access is volatile, banking rails are weak, and repatriating income can take months. Stablecoins are the workaround.

“Businesses like airlines have money stuck in places for 9-12 months, sometimes even longer, because it’s very difficult to repatriate USDs out because of a lack of liquidity,” Sebastiani explains. “Stablecoins give them that liquidity bridge to repatriate funds before they [lose value],” she adds.

It also makes the entire process of settling and trading goods more efficient, Alzarouni says, especially when taken with other digitization measures into account. “You transfer goods more swiftly, settle digitally, and complete the entire journey without friction,” Alzarouni explains, adding that integrating AI and digital trade platforms with those types of payment rails and infrastructure can make for a much smoother, faster end-to-end settlement journey for trade.

And there are more use cases for remittances and tourists

About 90% of the UAE’s residents are expats, and the UAE was the third-largest sender of remittances globally as of last year, according to Visa. But remittances come with high fees — the global cost is estimated at an average of 6.5%, Sebastiani says. Stablecoins lower that by 40%, she explains.

It’s not just about the cost but about efficiency, particularly in jurisdictions where legacy Swift networks falter, and transaction processes take around five days. “Remittances we facilitate via stablecoins only take about 20 minutes, instead of the usual five days,” Sebastiani notes.

That ease of access also makes the lives of tourists easier — if they have an AED-denominated stablecoin wallet or a card, they don’t need to exchange their money to AED and be subject to exchange rates, Sebastiani says. That’s especially important for places that are tourism- and conference-heavy like the UAE, she adds.

The caveats

There’s still an “illicit activity” stigma that needs to be overcome. “Stablecoins are much more traceable than [banknotes] or banking transactions,” Alzarouni says. While transactions are pseudo-anonymous, Alzarouni explains that we’re already seeing the emergence of “on-chain verifiable credentials with blockchain-based digital identities,” which allows transactions to happen fully on-chain.

SOUND SMART- Digital decentralized identities allow authorized third parties to verify a user's real-world identity once using cryptographic proof while protecting the user’s identity. That means there’s a know-your-customer (KYC) process involved, with smart contracts instantly reading those cryptographic attestations to verify compliance before executing a transfer.

The key here is interoperability and working with other jurisdictions to standardize the rules and regulations governing stablecoins, our sources tell us. “The UAE has its own role, but we’re also not an island,” Alzarouni says. “We have to work with the other jurisdictions, whether that’s Southeast Asia, the US, or Europe, when it comes to KYC/AML and due diligence,” he adds, referencing collaboration like Zand’s with Ripple’s USD-denominated stablecoin as helping build a mature ecosystem around that infrastructure.

AED-denominated stablecoins are still at very early stages of growth, but their rise, along with others, is increasingly helping the ecosystem mature and challenging the distribution of USD-denominated stablecoins, D’Haussy observes. And that’s needed, he says: “If your domestic financial system is built on someone else’s infrastructure — the USD, for example — you don’t have freedom. You’re not in control of anything,” he explains.

Currently, payment using stablecoins in the UAE is restricted to AED-backed stablecoins — and that’s done for a reason. “Currencies need to be sovereign,” Sebastiani says. “I think we will see more and more local currency-denominated stablecoins actually, and that will facilitate a lot of exchange between different currency-denominated stablecoins and will enable easier swaps instead of having to do on-ramp and off-ramp,” Sebastiani explains.

More Dubai stimulus coming

AED 1.5 bn more is heading into Dubai’s economy as Dubai Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum signed off on a second and larger incentive package aimed at easing costs across tourism, trade, education, customs, transport, and aviation, according to a post on X.

This brings total stimulus into Dubai’s economy since the war to AED 2.5 bn, after a AED 1 bn package was introduced at the end of March to ease the financial strain on the private sector. The latest support seems to extend some of the earlier measures, which were set to last between three to six months, and targets a wider range of sectors than the initial more hospitality-focused package.

Still, tourism and hospitality are getting a major helping hand. The latest package includes 33 initiatives lasting between three and 12 months, with some of the biggest relief measures concentrated in tourism and hospitality. Hotels, restaurants, and tour operators will be exempt from fees on sales, licenses, and permits, and authorities will also suspend the collection of AED tourism fees. Event organizers are also getting relief through exemptions on permit, postponement, and cancellation fees.

Trade and SME support also feature heavily. Companies registered under the Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for Small and Medium Enterprises will receive automatic two-year membership license extensions if their memberships expire in 2026, while final retention assurances for supply contractors engaged by government entities are being slashed from 10% to 2%.

More flexibility for imports: Importers will now be allowed to pay customs declaration dues in installments, while customs-related fines are being cut by 80%. The earlier package had introduced an extension of customs data grace periods from 30 to 90 days, and waived duties for art imports.

The transport sector is getting some love too: The package also includes deferred payments and fine exemptions tied to transport activities, alongside a 50% reduction in civil aviation permit renewal fees.

As are real estate + education: Building permits for real estate projects linked to the Dubai Municipality will be extended, while education operators will also get license renewal fee waivers and rental freezes.

Background

The UAE has consistently been rolling out various support measures since the outbreak of war — though Dubai is getting a lot of the attention. The UAE’s Economy and Tourism Minister Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri said a tourism-specific support package is in the works, and Ajman recently stepped in with measures for tourism players.

Mubadala-backed Acelen secures USD 1.5 bn for Brazil biofuels refinery

Mubadala secures funds for Brazil biofuels build: Mubadala Capital’s Brazilian energy subsidiary Acelen will start construction on a biofuels refinery in Brazil’s Bahia, after it secured USD 1.5 bn in financing for the project, Reuters reports.

The details: The USD 3 bn project will produce up to 1 bn liters per year of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel once operations begin in 2029. The facility will also integrate feedstock sourcing from macauba, a native Brazilian oilseed, alongside soybean oil and used cooking oil.

Who’s backing it? A consortium of 10 institutions, led by HSBC and the International Finance Corporation, is financing part of the project.

Background

We first reported on the plant back in 2024, when Mubadala Capital was earmarking USD 13.5 bn for a biofuels project in Brazil. Plans included five USD 2.7 bn modules, each able to process 20k barrels of fuel per day. The original timeline had first production starting this year, and the sovereign wealth fund was also planning on converting an existing refinery it had bought from Brazil’s state-owned energy firm Petrobras.

Separately, Acelen is also currently running Mataripe, Brazil’s second-largest refinery, which Mubadala is looking to sell back to Petrobras. Talks had previously stalled but have been back on as of last month.

The moves come as Mubadala continues to restructure its Brazil portfolio, having recently closed its third Brazil fund of nearly USD 1 bn. Last year also saw it acquire 60.3% of a key Brazilian infrastructure firm, and it was also reportedly eyeing taking over a local fintech.

In other Mubadala news

In a separate development, Mubadala Energy is preparing to announce a final investment decision within months for its Tangkulo gas development in Indonesia’s South Andaman block, Reuters separately reports, citing comments made by Mubadala Energy’s COO Adnan Bu Fateem at the Indonesia Petroleum Association conference.

The project: The offshore project, discovered two years ago at the Tangkulo-1 well, holds an estimated resource potential of over 2 tcf of gas in place, with first production targeted for 4Q 2028.

The South Andaman basin has emerged as a key growth area for Mubadala Energy, with additional exploration at the Layaran-1 well indicating potential resources exceeding 6 tcf.

Core42 lands USD 550 mn to scale deployment overseas

Core42 is adding more firepower to its global AI infrastructure buildout. The G42-owned sovereign cloud and AI infrastructure operator secured USD 550 mn in structured trade finance facilities from HSBC to accelerate cloud and compute deployments across the US and Europe, according to a statement (pdf).

At least one of the two packages was secured in May — in yet another vote of confidence from a global institution in UAE firms since the war started. A USD 310 mn tranche was completed in May, while a USD 240 mn one was completed in February. Both are non-equity-dilutive facilities.

Why it matters

The facilities are “pioneering” in that they offer a framework for “streamlined access to funding for future initiatives” and is at the same time non-equity dilutive — key here given Core42 is a government-owned firm, and state-owned firms in the UAE rarely give up any equity.

It’s also a sign that AI infrastructure is increasingly being financed like industrial capacity — with much bigger tickets — as investors wager on hardwired demand for compute and cloud capacity. The fact that it’s structured as trade finance means banks are treating AI compute capacity and the underlying hardware (GPUs, servers, and data center components) as an industrial-grade, exportable asset class much like oil, commodities, or electronics. HSBC said the transaction reflects stronger institutional recognition of “the unique requirements and dynamics within the technology sector.”

Demand is moving fast: US data-center grid-power demand is expected to nearly triple to 134.4 GW by 2030, according to S&P Global, underscoring why platforms with scalable cloud and compute capacity are drawing deeper institutional backing. “As enterprises and governments scale mission-critical AI workloads, the underlying cloud and compute platforms must be resilient and built to support sustained demand,” Core42 CFO Neha Gupta said.

Background

Core42’s European footprint has been widening: As we previously covered, the firm is set to operate G42’s sovereign AI cloud rollout in France, is leading operations for the Colosseum supercomputer deployment in Italy, and has been linked to a potential compute agreement with Germany’s Northern Data.

And in the US: Bloomberg recently reported that Core42 took 20 MW of capacity as the primary tenant in a Minneapolis office-to-data-center conversion, adding to its footprint in California, Texas, and New York as G42 deepens its AI infrastructure presence in the US.

Emirates NBD backs AED 367.3 mn financing tied to Dubai luxury residences

UAE lenders are still banking on Dubai’s ultra-luxury market even as the broader real estate cycle cools. European real estate group CPI Property Group secured an AED 367.3 mn financing facility from Emirates NBD, backed by a portfolio of high-end residences in Dubai, according to a press release. The facility will help finance deferred payments tied to the developments through 2026 and 2027.

Inside the agreement: The portfolio includes 19 luxury homes, with 15 units still under development in projects, including Bvlgari The Lighthouse on Jumeirah Bay, Casa Canal and One Canal along the Dubai Water Canal, and Mr. C Residences Downtown. The company said it plans to gradually divest the properties after completion.

The timing says a lot about where the UAE property market is sitting right now. Broader residential growth has started cooling under the weight of geopolitical tensions — UAE real estate activity dropped 51% between the start of the war and mid-March — but prime and ultra-luxury assets are holding up far better than the wider market. Buyer demand for properties priced above AED 5 mn drove nearly a quarter of all Dubai market activity in 1Q.

REMEMBER- The UAE luxury residential market started the year on strong footing, with Mordor Intelligence estimating it will reach roughly USD 49.3 bn in 2026 and climb to more than USD 77 bn by 2031. As the near-term picture grows more complicated, with building material prices rising by up to 14% over the past few weeks, analysts see a cooling phase ahead — though not an outright correction.

More pharma localization + Dutch TMF Group secures DIFC license

Globalpharma widens its pharma stack

Dubai Investments’ pharma arm is building its manufacturing firepower with seven MoUs spanning R&D, automation, financing, localization, and sustainability as it looks to strengthen capabilities across the UAE pharma value chain, according to a statement (pdf).

Who’s involved: India’s ZIM Laboratories and Molkem Chemicals will support product development and localization, while US-based industrial automation firm Rockwell Automation, Masibus — part of France’s Sonepar Group — and UAE-based 386 Sky Solar will support automation, manufacturing efficiency, and a rooftop solar plant at its Dubai Investments Park facility.

Emirati players are also central to the push: Emirates Development Bank will support structured financing and expansion, while Mubadala Bio’s Al Ittihad Drug Store and the Emirates Drug Establishment will help strengthen distribution, regulatory alignment, and meds security initiatives.

ICYMI- Globalpharma is also building beyond the UAE, with its Angola manufacturing facility expected to begin production in 2027, as it looks to scale Emirati-made pharma deeper into export markets.

TMF Group secures DIFC license

Dutch fund administrator and corporate service provider TMF Group has secured regulatory approval to operate in Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), according to a press release. The firm secured approval as a fund administrator and as a corporate service provider.

TMF Group? The firm already operates across 87 jurisdictions globally and works with large multinational corporations, financial institutions, and private capital players.

What April’s PMIs are telling us about prospects for global growth this year

The impacts of the US-Iran war are showing up across the world — but most of all in the Eurozone. Cost pressures are weighing on manufacturing and services segments the most, with factory activity dipping in all tracked indexes bar one, Bloomberg reports. Economists are now starting to talk about a potential recession hitting several economies, as well as a general stagflation trend, as central banks find themselves caught between stubborn inflation and a crumbling growth outlook.

The most affected countries: The euro area’s PMI is at its lowest since 2023, with manufacturing activity in France nosediving and the region’s biggest economy, Germany, economy set to contract in 2Q as its non-oil sector activity remains in contraction territory. Across the Eurozone and the US, a stock-building surge continues as firms try to get ahead of disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

It was a similar picture in Australia, which saw its PMI contract for the second month straight in April as factory activity stalled and services slumped.

In context: The Eurozone — as an energy importer — is particularly exposed to energy prices, with the European Commission now expecting the region’s growth to come in at 0.9%, down from 1.2% it forecast in November. Other economists expect a “technical recession,” Bloomberg says, as the specter of stagflation also hangs over the region.

REMEMBER- The PMIs also painted a negative picture for the Gulf, though not for exactly the same reasons. Business activity resumed in most countries, but a dent in demand and reduced client activity weighed on performance, along with a rise in costs, which were being passed on to consumers.

On the more resilient side: India and Japan both saw manufacturing activity continue to grow, though further energy squeezes are clouding the outlook for Japan.

The readings are making central banks’ jobs difficult. With the prospect of inflation ticking up to 4% in the next few months, “the growing signs of the region slipping into an economic downturn [is creating] a deepening dilemma for policymakers,” S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Chris Williamson said.

Interest rate hikes are looking likely, even if they come at the expense of economic growth and lead business activity to stagnate further or even contract. The likelihood of a cut triggered investors to offload government bonds, sending long-term yields to over 20-year highs.

MARKETS THIS MORNING- xx

ADX	9,637	+0.4% (YTD: -3.6%)
DFM	5,661	+0.6% (YTD: -6.4%)
Nasdaq Dubai UAE20	4,485	+0.6% (YTD: -8.2%)
USD : AED CBUAE	Buy 3.67	Sell 3.67
EIBOR	3.3% o/n	3.9% 1 yr
TASI	11,028	+0.4% (YTD: +5.1%)
EGX30	52,091	+0.3% (YTD: +24.5%)
S&P 500	7,446	+0.2% (YTD: +8.8%)
FTSE 100	10,443	+0.1% (YTD: +5.2%)
Euro Stoxx 50	5,960	-0.3% (YTD: +2.9%)
Brent crude	USD 104.51	+1.9%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.00	0.7%
Gold	USD 4,537	-0.1%
BTC	USD 77,700	+0.2% (YTD: -12.4%)
Chimera JP Morgan UAE Bond UCITS ETF	AED 3.68	+2.2% (YTD: +0.3%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	150.11	+0.3% (YTD: -1.2%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	16.76	-3.9% (YTD: +12.1%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The DFM rose 0.6% yesterday on turnover of AED 784 mn. The index is down 6.4% YTD.

In the green: Agility The Public Warehousing Company (+8.6%), BHM Capital Financial Services (+5.3%), and National International Holding Company (+4.5%).

In the red: Dubai Refreshment Company (-5.0%), Unikai Foods (-4.9%), and Sukoon Takaful (-4.4%).

Over on the ADX, the index rose 0.4% on turnover of AED 880.2 mn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai was up 0.6%.

On curing “pilotitis” in AI workflows and deploying AI agents from your own home

Raised in the UAE, trained at Carnegie Mellon and Harvard, and seasoned on Wall Street, Arya Bolurfrushan has watched two technological revolutions reshape the economy: The internet’s rewiring of how we connect and now AI’s bid to manufacture what he thinks is the rarest commodity in the universe — intelligence.

As a veteran entrepreneur with two exits under his belt, he made a call to start his own venture that can help regular people — those on the front lines of industries, from nurses to bank clerks — use AI to actually bring tangible gains for their businesses and help save them time on routine tasks.

That became Opus, AppliedAI’s platform for building, running, and optimizing AI-powered workflows — purpose-built for “high cost of error” environments like banking, ins., healthcare, and industrials. The thesis is simple: AI only matters when it moves the P&L. AppliedAI is now backed by Abu Dhabi AI darling G42, sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, McKinsey, and American software firm Palantir.

Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. This week, we sat down with Arya Bolurfrushan (LinkedIn), founder and CEO of AppliedAI, to talk about his journey building AppliedAI, how it actually helps businesses, and how he uses AI in his day-to-day life to help his own work. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

EnterpriseAM: Tell us about yourself and the story of how you started AppliedAI.

Arya Bolurfrushan (AB): I was born in New York and raised in the UAE. I left when I was sixteen for university. I went to Carnegie Mellon, which at the time was — and still is — the number one university for AI and information systems. It was 2001, at the cusp of the dot-com bubble, and there were a lot of conversations about how the internet would change us.

After that, I started my career at Goldman Sachs in New York and then went to Harvard for business school, and I’ve been an entrepreneur ever since. My first venture wasn’t one I founded, but it was in the oil and gas space, and I took it public in Europe. It was one of the first UAE-founded companies to go public in Europe (and to stay listed).

Fast-forward to five years ago, around Covid-19, I was going down a rabbit hole of what AI and Web3 mean for the world. I was in Dubai and started to think of starting an AI fund that could help companies looking to make AI usable. I couldn’t find a company that did exactly what I wanted — there were either services companies masquerading as product companies, robotic process automation companies masquerading as AI companies, or research firms masquerading as for-[gain] companies. That’s when I created AppliedAI.

E: So how does AppliedAI make AI usable? What does it offer that wasn’t in the market at the time?

AB: We often say AI is everywhere except your bottom line. A lot of enterprises have this problem we call “pilotitis,” where they just do pilots after pilots after pilots, but they still can’t figure out how to actually work AI into everyday production and business processes efficiently.

The problem is not always tech-related. It’s usually human- and adoption-related. What we have tried to build with Opus is a solution to those adoption issues. After thousands of hours on the front line with enterprises, we realized that the person who should own this task is the business process owner, the person who does it every single day — not IT and not management.

So what we've done is we've empowered the business process owner at the front line to be able to build and deploy in a non-technical way, because they're the ones who actually know what's needed. We also do it in a multiplayer fashion where, in discovery — Opus has discover, build, run, and optimize stages — you and your colleagues all go into the same platform, you start mapping out exactly what the requirements are, what the integrations are, and then you build consensus. And then you have two options: either automate the old, most likely broken process, or what we recommend, which is not to automate broken processes but reimagine them altogether. This is part of what we call the Ikea effect. If you build it yourself, you'll value it and use it.

E: Give me an example of a business that has used AppliedAI and has seen solid gains to its bottom line.

AB: A chemical manufacturing plant in the UK owned by big oil companies needed to optimize a mission-critical process that required around three to four hours of human work — that happens thousands of times per day — and we took that process and made it into around two to three minutes. It went from seven human touch points to one human touch point.

We built and deployed that and integrated it into their systems within eight hours. It was a one-day investment on their part, with around a 20x increase in human productivity. It was in vendor onboarding and procurement — we call ourselves the world's most boring AI company for a reason.

E: Why start with the most high-stakes and highly regulated sectors first?

AB: It's like eating the frog first. When a human life is on the line, you can’t afford hallucinations. You have to build really robust systems that can go through that.

There’s also this global friction tax that we all pay on everything we touch, from banking to ins. and hospital bills, and it’s usually due to administrative inefficiencies. So it's actually a big source of suffering, and no one gains from that. For the workers, it’s a soul-crushing aspect of their jobs, and they’re under-resourced, and for the patient or client, it’s a bad experience.

We try to address these pain points, but we strongly believe that the human stays relevant. There needs to be an accountable human in every process that approves the AI recommendation. In this fast-changing world of AI, what will change the least is regulation and law, and that’s where we think humans will be needed most.

E:Take us through your morning routine and what a typical workday looks like.

AB: There’s the target routine and then there's the reality. Ideally, what I like to do is have a cold plunge — I have one outside of my room in the garden — and I try to get sunlight as soon as possible, and do some breathing exercises. The advantage of being in the UAE is that you don't necessarily need a sauna. You just get out of the cold plunge, and your job’s done.

I usually have black coffee in the morning, because I do intermittent fasting, so I don’t eat until around lunch. I’m constantly torn between getting that extra half hour of sleep and sacrificing those morning rituals, because I know that ultimately, sleep is the most important thing.

E:How does AI show up in your own routine? Does it help you with your own workflow?

AB: I've set up a Mac Studio at my house. I have my GPU and six agents running locally that do a lot of my work for me. So when I wake up in the morning, my emails are all answered, my calendars have been optimized, and I have a whole report on how to get the most out of the day. I have one that just tells me all the hard truths — things I don't want to hear that I've been avoiding.

I have one that does research, so what I try to do is keep deep research running in between my normal tasks and have full reports on that. I've also built a command center that links to all of our ERP systems, so it gets all the data from every line of code we write, and the whole thing is visible to me on my own dashboard.

Arya’s favorites

What he reads: The Sovereign Individual is a book I think is a must-read. It was written in the ‘90s by the two macroeconomists who predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall, and it discusses the future of sovereignty and what that means for us as individuals.

What he does in his spare time: Sports, in particular padel. I find it occupies my mind enough to not think about anything else.

Favorite piece of advice: One that I try to remember most is to trust your intuition. It's very hard to do that because it’s human nature to start looking for data to back you up or for people to agree with you. When I look back at the moments when I have trusted my intuition, those are when the business does best, and the moments when I don't are the times when we suffer.

CALENDAR

MAY

19-22 May (Tuesday-Friday): Abu Dhabi Water and Energy Week, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

22 May-7 June (Friday-Sunday): Dubai Esports and Games Festival, Dubai.

JUNE

3-4 June (Wednesday-Thursday): MENA Investor Conference, Ritz-Carlton DIFC, Dubai.

3-4 June (Wednesday-Thursday): MENA Desalination Forum, Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi.

15 June - 15 September (Monday-Thursday): Dubai Mallathon, Dubai.

17 June (Wednesday): Investopia Global Talks, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

22-24 June (Monday-Wednesday): The International Glass Manufacturing Show, Dubai.

AUGUST

17-20 August (Monday-Thursday): Arabian Travel Market, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

SEPTEMBER

1-3 September (Tuesday-Thursday: Middle East Energy, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

7-9 September (Monday-Wednesday): AIM Congress, Dubai World Trade Center.

7-9 September (Monday-Wednesday): International Property Show, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

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

29-30 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): AFCM Annual Conference, Abu Dhabi.

OCTOBER

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.

20-22 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Future Health Summit, Adnec Center Abu Dhabi.

27-28 October (Tuesday-Wednesday): Arab Competition Forum, Dubai.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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