No IPOs and less M&A and debt issuances in 1Q

1

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: Abu Dhabi eyes bringing Mubadala and L’imad’s China-focused assets under one umbrella + reports swirl of UAE-Egypt eyeing Moroccan tourism

Good morning, everyone. This weekend’s theme was: whiplash. The Strait of Hormuz opened and closed more times than we could track, with Iran opening the Strait early Friday only to close it hours later, due to what it said was a US breach of the truce (namely its blockade of Iranian ports). Reports of shots fired at ships and tens of tankers sent back followed.

Plus: Trump’s Truth posts have been more frequent and more confusing than ever, with claims that the Strait will be open per an agreement with Iran, and later, more threats to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges.

At least some crude made it out: A Pakistani-flagged Aframax tanker exited the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday — carrying around 440k barrels of Abu Dhabi’s Das Blend crude, after loading earlier last week at an Adnoc terminal. It was one of two Pakistani tankers that entered the strait last Sunday to lift crude and oil products.

It’s a mix of bad news (if you’re in the tourism business) and lackluster data (if you’re in capital markets) in today’s issue — but on the positive side, dealmaking is still taking place, with Lunate acquiring a stake in an Aussie credit manager. We have everything you need to know on those stories, and more, in this morning’s news well, below.

WEATHER- It’s getting warmer: Expect a high of 34°C and a low of 24°C in Dubai, while Abu Dhabi will see a high of 35°C and a low of 23°C.

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Cracks in Dubai’s tourism sector are starting to show: Several hotels in Dubai are heading into refurbishment mode, with closures that could signal opportunistic upgrades or a quieter warning on demand, The National reports.

What’s happening? The St. Regis has taken parts of the property offline since mid-April for refurbishment while continuing operations. Radisson Blu Media City will fully close on 30 April for renovations, with catering services running through year-end and a relaunch under a new operator expected from 2027, Hotelier reports.

They’re joining a broader pipeline: Jumeirah Burj Al Arab has shut down for an 18-month restoration, while Park Hyatt Dubai is preparing to close in May before reopening later this year. Armani Hotel Dubai has also temporarily closed from 1 April for a full-scale refurbishment, with plans to reopen in 4Q 2026, according to a statement.

They’re not all refurbishing. Anantara World Islands Dubai Resort said it has ceased operations entirely, but stopped short of blaming it on the war. Its operator Minor Hotels said it was due to a “combination of external factors” in statements to the media.

In context: Tourism is among the hardest-hit sectors since the war started. Economy and Tourism Minister Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri said earlier this month that a sector-specific support package is in the works, while Dubai has already started rolling out support measures for the sector as part of its AED 1 bn stimulus package, including deferrals of sales fees and AED tourism payments.

Hotel occupancy plunged to 16% as of 17 March, plummeting from peak-season averages of 90%. High-end restaurants and clubs are also seeing similar drops in demand, with some sending staff to sister outlets abroad. Some hotels have been slashing prices, cutting staff hours, and offering some incentives for guests to spend.

INVESTMENT WATCH — Abu Dhabi may put its China investments under one roof: Abu Dhabi is considering folding China-focused assets held across Mubadala and L’Imad Holding into a new jointly owned investment vehicle, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The objective is to stop multiple Abu Dhabi entities chasing the same investment windows as the emirate looks to deepen exposure to the world’s second-largest economy, a source told the business news information service.

Why now: The emirate’s investment giants have all been building China positions. Mubadala has invested more than USD 20 bn across over 100 transactions since 2015, while L’Imad inherited additional exposure through ADQ-linked assets transferred earlier this year. Mubadala has also said it wants Asia to account for roughly 25% of its portfolio by decade-end.

What it signals: If approved, the vehicle would suggest Abu Dhabi wants a bigger China footprint, but fewer competing logos at the table. Pooling holdings and resources may also point to an aim for greater efficiency when it comes to the speed and execution of agreements.

The backdrop: UAE-China ties might be accelerating after Crown Prince Khaled bin Mohamed’s Beijing visit last week, with the two sides signing 24 agreements spanning trade and investment, which included potential joint funds, investment platforms, and third-country investment vehicles.

And consolidation has been the name of the game recently. The past few months have seen some of Abu Dhabi’s biggest names consolidating and merging their holdings. IHC recently formed Judan Financial, its financial services powerhouse with over AED 870 bn in AUM, while at the end of last year it folded three of its subsidiaries together. ADQ was also consolidated under L’imad Holding, the UAE’s newer sovereign investment platform, at the start of this year.

In other investment news, Emirati capital is still eyeing Morocco’s tourism boom: An Egyptian-Emirati consortium, which includes UAE-based Al Nowais Group, is planning to invest EUR 200 mn in the first phase of a large-scale tourism project in Essaouira, Morocco, Asharq Business reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The consortium also reportedly includes Egyptian hospitality group Sunrise and b’naire Samih Sawiris.

The details so far: The 2.5 mn sqm development is set to include 800 hotel rooms, retail and entertainment space, golf courses, and boutique hotel units, with capital to be deployed over five years. The first 270-room hotel is slated to be ready by the end of next year, with another 350-room hotel set to be built within four years.

Why Morocco? The Kingdom’s tourism momentum is doing much of the selling. Morocco welcomed a record 19.8 mn visitors in 2025, up 14% y-o-y, and is targeting more than 26 mn tourists before 2030. Even amid regional tensions last month, tourist arrivals rose 18%.

UAE-Morocco capital ties are already deepening: Emirati-backed ambitions have stretched into Western Sahara, including plans for a “Dubai of Africa” coastal hub. UAE firms were also in talks on USD 10 bn worth of wind projects there, after the two sides signed a USD 14 bn investment agreement last year covering water and energy infrastructure.

ECONOMY — A financial backstop from the US? UAE officials are reportedly in talks with the US over a financial backstop if the regional conflict persists, unnamed US officials told the Wall Street Journal. UAE Central Bank Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama floated the idea last week of launching a currency-swap line during a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Treasury and Federal Reserve officials. No formal requests have been made, the officials said.

But, why? According to the Wall Street Journal, UAE officials emphasized that the US-Iran war could jeopardize the UAE’s standing as a global financial hub and put its foreign reserves under pressure. As of mid-March, our foreign reserves stood at over USD 270 bn.

Data point

118.4k — that was the number of new rental contracts signed in Dubai in 1Q 2026, alongside 135.6k renewals, according to Dubai Land Department data picked up by Dubai Media Office. Cancelled contracts fell 25% over the period, pointing to a calmer leasing cycle after years of churn, and despite regional uncertainty.

Total rental contract value reached AED 32.2 bn, up 1%. The steadier rental picture mirrors Dubai real estate more broadly. As we recently reported, prices largely held firm in 1Q even as sales hit a record AED 251 bn, with analysts describing the market as showing “business continuity” and entering a more measured cooling phase despite regional volatility.

PSA

We now have a live food price tracking platform: The Economy and Tourism Ministry has launched the Essential Goods Prices Platform to give consumers live visibility on staple food prices and help guide purchasing decisions, state news agency Wam reports.

The platform covers 33 products in its first phase, split across basic and key consumer goods. Prices are updated daily and pulled electronically from 12 major retail outlets, showing both minimum and maximum prices to allow direct comparison across stores.

ICYMI- Abu Dhabi recently cracked down on price gouging after reports of unjustified price hikes as supply chains started to be disrupted by the war.

The big story abroad

The US seized an Iranian cargo ship for allegedly attempting to breach its naval blockade, which President Donald Trump previously said will remain in full force until a peace agreement is signed. Tehran pledged to strike back and said it will not take part in a second round of ceasefire talks, upending Washington’s plans to kick off a fresh round of negotiations before the ceasefire expires tomorrow.

Oil markets jittered at the development, with Brent crude futures jumping over 5% to USD 94.90 a barrel. And we expect the rally that pushed the S&P 500 to fresh highs last week to reverse course when markets open later today as hopes of easing tensions unravel. US futures were broadly in the red this morning.

Seemingly undaunted by the turmoil, Asian markets are up in early trading this morning, with Japan’s Nikkei rising by around 1% and South Korea’s Kospi gaining around 1.3%.

Economists are warning that the conflict’s aftermath will surely harm the US economy, triggering long-lasting inflation, the Financial Times reports. “What we see is that short-term inflation expectations have moved up here in the US,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told the FT.

And in the world of tech and sports, Chinese-made humanoid robots clinched a victory over their human competitors in a half-marathon race in Beijing yesterday. A synthetic marathoner made by Chinese smartphone brand Honor — a Huawei spinoff — managed to break the world record for the half-marathon, signalling vast improvements from last year’s trial which most of the robots failed to complete.

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Weaker capital markets activity in 1Q amid regional volatility

Regional equity capital markets activity all but dried up in 1Q, while M&A activity also slumped as regional tensions hit a normally very active market.

IPOs took a big hit: Total equity capital markets proceeds dropped 91% y-o-y during the quarter to USD 427.9 mn on just five transactions (-69% y-o-y), according to an LSEG report seen by EnterpriseAM. The regional war sent markets into a tailspin, forcing IPO hopefuls to retreat, the report noted.

Only four IPOs made it to market YTD, down from 12 in the same period last year. These listings — one each in Saudi Arabia (Saleh Abdulaziz Al Rashed & Sons), Bahrain (Silah Gulf), Kuwait (Trolley), and Egypt (Gourmet) — raised a combined USD 296.6 mn, marking the region’s weakest first quarter since 2018. Follow-on offerings slipped to a three-year low of USD 131.3 mn, with just one offering by Kyvistar Group on Nasdaq Dubai.

“The situation in the region is very volatile for issuers to tap the market as sentiments change overnight,” Junaid Ansari, director of investment strategy and research at Kamco Invest, tells us. He adds that despite the ceasefire, most names are still waiting for a more durable resolution before testing the waters again.

As we’ve reported, the 1H window is all but closed now, with IPO hopefuls in the UAE delaying their listings, with any near-term IPO plans likely to be pushed into 2H.

Any recovery is likely to be back-loaded. Ansari expects 2H to see a pickup in IPO activity but only if a lasting ceasefire holds, with full-year volumes and proceeds still set to come in below last year’s levels. “Issuers are prioritizing demand visibility and execution certainty over valuation maximization, making timing the single most critical factor in bringing [IPOs] to market,” Tahir Abbas, head of research at Ubhar Capital, previously told EnterpriseAM.

Early positive signs?

There are early signs of hope returning: “We have seen a broad-based rally across sectors in the GCC with all sectors trading in the green,” Ansari said, noting that a sustained improvement in the backdrop could start to bring cyclicals and growth names back into the mix.

“Demand for good quality names at reasonable valuation is always strong in the region,” Ansari said, though allocation dynamics between institutional and retail investors will be key in determining how much supply the market can absorb. “It’s the order size that persuades a prospective issuer more to go for an IPO as compared to the post-listing performance,” Ansari said, adding that the latter is still important.

As for what signals a proper reopening? Ansari said he looks at a combination of improving sentiment and hard data points — including benchmark performance, foreign inflows, and how recent listings trade post-IPO — to tell if the window is opening again.

On the M&A and debt front

M&A transaction value also fell 74% y-o-y to USD 18.8 bn, while the number of transactions dropped 9% y-o-y. Only USD 4.6 bn worth of transactions involved a MENA target, the lowest for the region in a decade, according to LSEG. On the bright side, the UAE was the most targeted nation. Outbound M&A also fell 55% y-o-y, hitting a two-year low of USD 11.5 bn.

MENA bond issuance fell 12% y-o-y to USD 48.1 bn, while the number of issuances fell 11%. Saudi Arabia was the most active, accounting for 58% of bond proceeds, while the UAE came in second place with a 27% share.

Mega rounds buoyed investment momentum in 1Q, but war could hit appetite later this year

Startups in the UAE were the most well-funded in 1Q 2026. That largely boils down to a single mega transaction, but is also a reflection of solid momentum carried over from 2025, Magnitt says in its latest report seen by EnterpriseAM. But the bigger news is that 1Q 2026 also saw significant seasonal softness on the back of compounded disruptions with Ramadan, Eid, and then, of course, the war.

If you were waiting for 1Q data for insights into how the war has affected startup investments, it’s too early for that. The real impact of recent geopolitical shocks won't be visible until later this year. “The [investment] that's being announced today is [one] that was already discussed earlier,” Magnitt Research Director Farah El Nahlawi tells EnterpriseAM. “The expected [impact of the war] is going to start reflecting in the region in 3Q numbers,” she added.

VC investments typically take six to nine months to move from handshake to a close. This means 1Q numbers are largely a mirror of 2025 sentiment, Magnitt says.

Case in point: We’ve seen several startups announce funding rounds since the start of the war. Fikry Boutros, co-founder and co-CEO of Carnistore, which secured AED 45 mn in funding from Emirates Growth Fund, told us the investment had been in the works for months, and it was near closing when EGF said it would push ahead with closing the transaction despite the turbulent geopolitical environment and expected headwinds.

But one potential repercussion of the war is that some startups likely opted not to disclose funding at all, possibly to avoid publicizing flat rounds or lower valuations, or simply because the geopolitical environment doesn’t allow it, El Nahlawi said.

A closer look at 1Q

UAE startups raised USD 419 mn during the quarter, up 47% y-o-y, largely driven by Property Finder’s bumper USD 170 mn round. The volume of transactions, however, fell 45% y-o-y to just 37, reflecting a broader trend in the VC ecosystem of bigger funding rounds concentrated into a smaller number of investments.

Pre-seed and seed activity in particular was softer, Magnitt said, and non-mega transactions saw a 13% y-o-y decline to USD 249 mn.

The investor taxonomy

One key shift in 1Q data is the composition of the investor base. International participation fell to 26% of capital deployed in Q1, down from 49% in 2025. This isn’t a uniform retreat, however. El Nahlawi categorizes the foreign base into three distinct risk profiles:

The entrenched investors: These are the firms with physical offices and permanent teams in Dubai, Riyadh, or Cairo. They are “part of the investment landscape" and remain steady.
The fundraisers: Global firms that arrived in the region recently to tap local capital for their global funds. Their regional deployment is often a secondary, strategic neighborly gesture, and is set to remain steady too.
The diversifiers: This is the high-risk group — purely international firms (largely reflecting a broader trendUS-based) with no regional boots on the ground. “Those are the ones that are going to pull back the hardest,” El Nahlawi says. Their share of capital cratered from 22% to just 5% this quarter.

The UAE is the most exposed to this shift in foreign investor sentiment. It took a 53% share of total funding in the region, but 70% of that capital came from international investors. Still, this is not likely to result in a big gap in funding in the medium to long term, El Nahlawi said.

Our take? We think there’s a diverse enough composition of investors that the one “diversifier” segment of foreign investors will not leave a huge dent, but we’ll still be looking out for how the investor base composition changes in 3Q and 4Q.

Zooming out

Startups in our region raised USD 799 mn in 1Q, flatlining y-o-y but showing a steady 31% q-o-q increase, according to the report. Transaction volume, meanwhile, plummeted 20% q-o-q and some 41% y-o-y to reach a five-year low at 115 closed transactions, but the average size of VC transactions grew significantly, effectively offsetting any drop in volumes.

By the industry

Fintech still reigns supreme, accounting for 31% of all funding (USD 246 mn) despite seeing a 48% y-o-y drop. But its absolute dominance is “relatively seeing a decline,” El Nahlawi says. “We are now seeing a reshuffling of the top funded sectors as capital seeks out more tangible operational business models,” she added. Real estate and F&B have aggressively moved into the top 10 most funded sectors list, with three-digit growth rates, growing from a much smaller base.

But this comes with a caveat: It’s mainly driven by mega agreements. For real estate, that was Property Finder’s USD 170 mn round from Mubadala. In F&B, the surge was driven by USD 50 mn rounds from Egypt’s Breadfast and the UAE’s Kitopi.

What about AI? AI funding’s share of the total value of transactions almost halved y-o-y, and its share of the total number of transactions fell from 36% to 12%. The drop was seen across the top three markers: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, El Nahlawi said.

What about the investor base? While US investors slowed down their overall VC deployment in our region in 1Q, they, along with UAE investors, were still the biggest spenders when it comes to AI.

Funding stage composition changed, too. Unlike 2025, where deployment was balanced between early-stage and more mature companies, the concentration of funding during 1Q 2026 was in early-stage players, with the majority of transactions falling in the USD 1-5 mn range.

How can we read this data? A likely explanation for the y-o-y drop across fintech and AI is that we are seeing a delay in deployment and coming off an already strong base for both sectors in 2025, El Nahlawi says.

The outlook

Expect investors to go big on their safer wager — and that could be good news for startups with the strongest fundamentals. Those who make the cut in 2Q and 3Q will likely raise bigger rounds because investors are over-capitalizing their safest wagers, El Nahlawi tells us. With average agreement sizes already trending high over the last few quarters before hitting an all-time high of USD 8.1 mn in 1Q 2026, we can expect bigger averages to come, paired with a reduction in overall activity and value.

Lunate ♥️ Aussie credit

Lunate buys into Australia’s La Trobe Financial: Axight, the private equity investment arm of Abu Dhabi’s Lunate, agreed to acquire a significant minority position in Australian private credit platform La Trobe Financial for an undisclosed sum, according to a press release (pdf).

What we know: Axight is buying the stake from New York-based Brookfield — La Trobe’s majority owner — in a transaction valuing the platform at roughly USD 2.1 bn. Closing is expected in 3Q, pending approvals, with Brookfield retaining a majority stake.

The move puts Axight’s Asia-Pacific mandate into overdrive. Launched by Lunate last year to scale its USD 115 bn AUM, Axight is getting access to a ready-made international credit platform. This could give it access to high-yield Australian mortgages, against the backdrop of a slate of “structural tailwinds,” including an aging population, growing superannuation balances and some USD 5.3 tn in household financial assets, Shiv Gupta, head of Australia for Brookfield’s Private Equity Group, said.

About La Trobe: Founded in 1952, La Trobe manages about AUD 23 bn in assets for a broad base of 130k retail and institutional investors, focusing on private credit, particularly residential mortgage lending. Its AUM stands at USD 16.3 bn, while its flagship AUD 14 bn Australian Credit Fund ranks among the country’s largest retail credit funds.

The pattern

Emirati capital is leaning further into yield plays outside its home markets. The acquisition follows the same playbook Lunate used last year in its USD 2 bn play for Brevan Howard. In both cases, Abu Dhabi is moving from a passive LP role to an active GP stake, buying into the firms that manage the money instead of the funds they run.

The move also mirrors Mubadala’s ongoing consolidation of North American finance. Since taking CI Financial private, Mubadala has used the platform to aggressively acquire assets, including the USD 18.7 bn Canadian fund business from Invesco and the USD 3 bn takeover of Fortress.

An economic shield in action

More signs outbound deployment is holding up despite the geopolitics: Just last week, EIIC took a minority stake in Copenhagen-born Joe & The Juice at a USD 1.8 bn valuation. Together, the moves point to an M&A market still operating on a business-as-usual footing, with outbound investment windows remaining open.

Scaling AI in a regulated world

For financial institutions, AI strategy begins with risk calibration. In an environment often labeled by regulatory complexity and periodic geopolitical disruption, implementation must balance innovation with resilience. At Mashreq, deployment follows a principle of proportionality: the greater the potential regulatory, financial, or reputational impact, the stronger the governance required.

That principle determines how speed is applied. Lower-risk applications, including internal productivity tools and operational enhancements, are piloted, measured against defined thresholds, and scaled once value is demonstrated.

As impact increases, so does oversight. Credit decisioning, customer-facing agentic systems, and financial crime management follow staged deployment, supported by model validation, bias assessment, explainability testing, security reviews, and defined human-in-the-loop controls.

This structured escalation enables responsible acceleration. Reusable governance frameworks, independent validation layers, and aligned accountability across business and technology functions allow innovation to scale without eroding safeguards.

When governance is embedded early, resilience becomes structural. AI transitions from experimental deployment to durable institutional capability.

In banking, trust ultimately defines performance. Sustainable AI adoption depends not only on technical advancement, but on oversight that remains robust under stress.

Xi Liang, Head of AI, Mashreq

Etihad adds more Africa routes, Abu Dhabi pushes into affordable housing, more support measures from Dubai South, G42-backed AI firm launches new model

Etihad adds another growth lane, this time in Africa

Etihad Airways is expanding its Africa network with new Abu Dhabi routes to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ghana, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe, Wam reports.

ICYMI- The push comes after the airline struck a strategic partnership with Ethiopian Airlines in March to deepen connectivity across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Etihad has also targeted a similar buildout for its eastbound services. The airline also recently added five routes to mainland China and 28 weekly flights.

Abu Dhabi is scaling up affordable rentals

Abu Dhabi is expanding its affordable housing segment, with 9k rental units in the pipeline through a new partnership between the Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) and Aldar Properties, according to Abu Dhabi Media Office. The collaboration aims to deliver two mixed-use developments in Mohamed Bin Zayed City and Baniyas by 2029, featuring residential units alongside retail and lifestyle amenities.

Who’s doing what? The government-backed developer will lead the development, leasing, and management for the projects — which have a combined value of AED 2.8 bn — while the DMT will provide long-term land access.

Dubai South rolls out incentives to keep business activities steady

Dubai South rolled out a new suite of incentives aimed at keeping operations running smoothly for companies in its freezone, state news agency Wam reports. The package includes support for new company setup, easier license renewals, and waivers on late renewal fines.

ICYMI- Earlier this month, Dubai South introduced rent relief and payment flexibility measures to bolster businesses at its Business Park — a move that fits within a wider drive of support measures from UAE entities against the backdrop of regional conflict.

G42-backed AI firm rolls out new model

G42-backed, Italy-based Domyn launched a new 260B-parameter reasoning model in partnership with Microsoft, according to a statement. The LLM — called Domyn Large — targets users in regulated industries and features reasoning controls, tool use, and support for more than 50 languages, with the option for proprietary data training.

ICYMI- G42 and Domyn (FKA iGenius) are already collaborating on building Europe’s largest AI compute deployment in Italy. Initially announced as a USD 1 bn, five-year investment, Domyn founder and CEO Uljan Sharka is now outlining a significantly expanded USD 10 bn three-year spending plan for the project, according to Arabian Business.

Investors are loading up on defense exposure

US investors are raising defense exposure, betting that geopolitically driven military spending will stay elevated for years, the Financial Times reports. The shift is being driven by conflicts including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the US-Iran war as well as rising defense budgets that have brought the sector back into favor after years of ESG-related caution.

Why defense?

Bigger budgets, fewer ESG brakes: Global instability has pushed Western governments to ramp up military spending. Europe’s defense spending rose 60% between 2020 and 2025, while the US has proposed a USD 1.5 tn military budget for 2027, up from USD 901 bn this year. ESG constraints that once weighed on defense allocations have also eased, particularly in the US, where political pushback is reframing the sector as a national and social priority.

Not just about current conflicts: Investor positioning is increasingly driven by expectations of future escalation, including a potential Russia-NATO confrontation, a Taiwan crisis involving China and the US, and wider Middle East instability. This new outlook reframes defense as a “multiyear demand story” rather than a cyclical trade, State Street Investment Management’s Matthew Bartolini told the Financial Times.

Tracking the capital shift

Institutional allocations on the rise: Annual US public pension commitments to defense-focused private equity funds more than doubled between 2022 and 2025, according to Dakota Marketplace data cited by the salmon-colored paper. The trend has carried into 2026, with double-digit growth in 1Q defense-focused fund commitments, even as broader private equity allocations declined, based on FT analysis of public data.

Defense exposure is also climbing in listed markets: US defense-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded net inflows of USD 4.8 bn in 1Q 2026, up from USD 283 mn a year earlier. The S&P Aerospace & Defense Select Industry Index has risen 142% since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, compared with a 64% gain in the S&P 500 over the same period.

Defense funds have also scaled up fast: Arlington Capital Partners raised USD 6 bn for its latest defense-focused fund in October, up 57% from its predecessor with backing from nearly a dozen public pension plans. Invesco’s Aerospace & Defense ETF has also grown to USD 8.4 bn from USD 653 mn in 2022, fueled by sustained inflows and rising investor interest, Invesco’s Rene Reyna said.

BUT- Is the trade getting crowded? Despite strong gains, some investors warn that valuations may be stretching. Defense stocks appear “overvalued on a growth-adjusted basis,” with concerns of overheating in parts of the market, Reyna said. Others, including Wyoming Retirement System trustee Paul O’Brien, question defense's broader economic contribution versus infrastructure or technology, noting that defense assets generate limited direct output unless deployed.

ADX	9,921	0.0% (YTD: -0.7%)
DFM	5,987	+1.0% (YTD: -1.0%)
Nasdaq Dubai UAE20	4,810	+0.5% (YTD: +1.6%)
USD : AED CBUAE	Buy 3.67	Sell 3.67
EIBOR	3.4% o/n	4.0% 1 yr
TASI	11,465	-0.8% (YTD: +9.3%)
EGX30	52,373	+1.8% (YTD: +25.2%)
S&P 500	7,126	+1.2% (YTD: +3.9%)
FTSE 100	10,668	+0.7% (YTD: +7.2%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,058	+2.1% (YTD: +4.6%)
Brent crude	USD 96.30	+6.6%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 2.67	+1.0%
Gold	USD 4,880	+1.5%
BTC	USD 73,859	-2.4% (YTD: -15.7%)
Chimera JP Morgan UAE Bond UCITS ETF	AED 3.65	+1.4% (YTD: -2.7%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	152.07	+0.3% (YTD: +0.1%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	17.48	-2.6% (YTD: +20.5%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The DFM rose 1.0% on Friday on turnover of AED 937.2 mn. The index is down 1.0% YTD.

In the green: BHM Capital Financial Services (+14.0%), Takaful Emarat (+9.7%), and Al Mazaya Holding Company (+6.4%).

In the red: Agility Public Warehousing Company (-4.9%), Deyaar Development (-4.6%), and United Foods Company (-4.3%).

Over on the ADX, the index stayed flat on turnover of AED 1.2 bn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai was up 0.5%.

CALENDAR

APRIL

20-22 April (Monday-Wednesday): Abu Dhabi Global Entrepreneurship Festival, Abu Dhabi Energy Center, Abu Dhabi

21 April (Tuesday): FAO Regional Conference for the Near East (NERC38), Al Ain.

28-29 April (Tuesday-Wednesday): Innovation Summit Middle East & Africa, Abu Dhabi.

MAY

4-8 May (Wednesday-Saturday): Make It in the Emirates, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

8-24 May (Saturday-Sunday): Dubai Esports and Games Festival, Dubai.

11-13 May (Monday-Wednesday): AI Everything Global, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

11-15 May (Monday-Friday): Dubai Future Finance Week, Dubai.

12-14 May (Tuesday-Thursday): Abu Dhabi Infrastructure Summit, ICC Hall, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

19-20 May (Tuesday-Wednesday): Capital Market Summit, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.

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

20-21 May (Wednesday-Thursday): Arab Competition Forum, 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.

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

JULY

31 July (Friday): Large businesses achieving annual revenues equal to or above AED 50 mn must appoint an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation.

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.

OCTOBER

4-10 October (Sunday-Saturday): World Space Week, 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.

Signposted to happen sometime in October 2026:

Abu Dhabi Space Week, Abu Dhabi.

NOVEMBER

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.

DECEMBER

2-4 December (Wednesday-Friday): UN Water Conference, UAE.

Signposted to happen in 2026:

Investopia Global Talks, Tashkent;
Investopia, Abu Dhabi.

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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