The debt rush continues + Inside the firm behind the UAE’s largest locally-launched hedge fund

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: Subsea cables infrastructure projects are still stalled + Is Mubadala exiting its stake in Rio’s Metro?

Good morning, lovely people, and happy FRIDAY. It’s a quiet morning here at home, though not without more debt activity, as UAE issuers continue to rush to debt markets to lock in tight spreads after a muted window. Burjeel Holding has just priced its first USD 500 mn sukuk, and it was more than 3x oversubscribed.

Our Lede today takes a look at two-year old Magellan Capital — a firm that started as a family office sitting on USD 1.1 bn in Adnoc proceeds and has spent two years building a much bigger business with those funds.

The idea behind it was: if the products the banks were pitching weren't good enough for Magellan, they probably aren't good enough for a lot of family offices in this market. The UAE's largest locally-debuted hedge fund is the answer they built for themselves — and are now offering to others, alongside advisory on the thing it knows best: restructuring as a firm born out of this region.

Don’t expect subsea cable projects to resume soon…

The US-Iran ceasefire agreement has done a lot of things, but it won’t help work on delayed subsea cable infrastructure projects resume any faster, researchers tell the Financial Times. It might take months to survey and demine ocean floors, reassign cable-laying ships that were diverted during the conflict, and lift war-risk ins. clauses — all of which will need a sustained period of peace to happen, analysts say.

The projects at risk include some of the region’s most significant planned cables. The Gulf section of Meta’s 2Africa network — one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects — was reportedly halted in March, with force majeure notices issued for all Gulf operations. Also affected: the proposed USD 700 mn WorldLink network connecting Gulf states, Ooredoo's Fibre in the Gulf, and Sea-Me-We 6, which links Southeast Asia to Europe.

Why it matters for us: The UAE has invested heavily to position itself as the region’s AI and cloud computing hub — and that depends as much on connectivity as on capital, power, and chips. G42’s data center buildout and the hyperscaler partnerships the UAE has signed all assume reliable, high-capacity links to the rest of the world. The question now is not whether these projects will resume, but what the delay means for ongoing work — and whether the exposure of the region’s digital infrastructure as a vulnerability changes the calculus for future investment. We explored that question earlier this year. Read more here.

Cashing out?

Is Mubadala exiting its stake in the Rio de Janeiro Metro? That’s what Brazilian outlet NeoFeed is reporting, saying it has learned that the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund has hired Santander to explore a sale of its controlling stake in HMobi, the company that operates Rio de Janeiro’s MetroRio and MetroBarra concessions, potentially setting up one of the largest infrastructure transactions in Brazil’s mobility sector.

Mubadala Capital holds a 51.5% stake in HMobi, whose rail concessions run until 2048. The sale process is still at an early stage, and discussions with potential buyers are expected to continue for several months, NeoFeed added.

The planned exit would see Mubadala divest an asset it inherited rather than pursued. The fund took control of the firm in 2021 after converting BRL 2.6 bn in debt owed by infrastructure group Invepar — a restructuring that allowed Invepar to settle BRL 1.8 bn in outstanding obligations with creditors, Mubadala among them. Following the restructuring, the company was rebranded as HMobi, while the remaining 48.5% stake stayed with Brazilian pension funds Previ, Funcef, and Petros.

Abu Dhabi’s courts MSD for regional supply hub

Abu Dhabi is looking to bring more of the pharma supply chain onto its own turf. Global drugmaker MSD is looking into setting up a regional logistics hub in HELM, Abu Dhabi’s health and life sciences cluster, Wam reports. The cluster was launched last year to attract new drug manufacturing, R&D, and commercialized biotech to the emirate.

A closer look: The proposed facility would distribute a broad portfolio of MSD products to regional markets from Abu Dhabi and boost supply chain resilience in the sector. Earlier this year, the UAE also overhauled its pharma distribution rules to reduce inventory bottlenecks and supply disruptions.

More AED for Uzbekistan

UAE investors have committed up to USD 6 bn to new projects in Uzbekistan as Abu Dhabi deepens its push into Central Asia, Al Bayan reports. The announcement came during Investopia Tashkent, though no breakdown of the investors, projects, or deployment timeline was disclosed.

UAE ❤️ Uzbekistan: The two countries already have around 100 joint projects worth more than USD 20 bn across renewable energy, critical minerals, infrastructure, logistics, technology, and agriculture, with a target to grow the portfolio to USD 50 bn. Non-oil trade between both rose 52% y-o-y to USD 1.25 bn in 2025.

Background: Masdar alone invested more than USD 2 bn in Uzbekistan and built a 2 GW renewables portfolio. It is also developing a round-the-clock clean-energy project targeting up to 1 GW of baseload capacity, alongside a 300 MW solar plant and a 1 GW wind project in Navoiy.

PSA

The UAE is adding visa-on-arrival access for six more countries, provided they have residency permits from specific countries, state news agency Wam reports. Starting 25 July, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, Filipino, Kenyan, and South African passport holders, along with their accompanying family members, will be eligible for either a 14-day or 60-day visa on arrival, provided they hold a valid residence permit from the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, or an EU member state.

Background: The UAE has been working to support tourism and business travel after the regional war hit the UAE’s tourism boom. Dubai and Ajman have already launched support measures to prop up their tourism industries, with a tourism-specific package also in the works for the UAE.

WEATHER- It’s getting slightly more bearable this weekend: The mercury hovers around 39-40°C throughout the weekend, with a low of 30-31°C in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The big story abroad

Back to square one? The UN's International Maritime Organization, which had been running an evacuation operation to free hundreds of stranded vessels and some 11k seafarers, paused its operation after a cargo vessel was hit by a projectile near Oman. The attack happened following warnings from Iran that it would attack vessels taking routes that it had not approved.

This came after more than 70 ships had passed through the waterway since Wednesday, far below the 130-plus daily transits before the war but still considered progress after minimal movement over the past few months.

On the tech side of things this morning: Apple raised the prices of its iPads and MacBooks on the back of soaring memory chip costs as demand for chips rises due to the AI boom. “We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly,” Apple said in a statement. “We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin ⁠raising prices on a number of products, including today's increases for iPad and Mac.”

A MacBook Air is now USD 200 pricier, and a MacBook Pro ‌with 1 terabyte of storage will set you back another USD 300.

For the Wall Street watchers: JPMorgan has promoted two executives, Troy Rohrbaugh and Doug Petno, to co-presidents as CEO Jamie Dimon prepares to hand over the baton — the latest in a long succession saga. Dimon, however, is not leaving anytime soon: sources say he has at least three more years ahead of him as CEO, and he now has said he plans to stay on as executive chair for a time after he hands over the CEO role to his successor.

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Two years old, three businesses, one big bet on the Gulf

Two years ago, Magellan Capital was a three-man team sitting on the proceeds of a USD 1.1 bn sale. Today it has launched the UAE’s largest locally-debuted hedge fund — and that's just one side of the business.

Magellan Capital Chief Investment Officer Ahmed Omar spent two years restructuring Zakher Marine International, an offshore services business, before it was sold to Adnoc Logistics & Services for USD 1.1 bn in 2022. The proceeds landed in a holding company, which spun out Magellan Capital in June 2024. The firm started as a family office, but evolved into a multi-faceted business that aims to solve problems that it itself went through a few years back.

Sitting on bns of AED in proceeds, Magellan found itself a large family office by Gulf standards — well-banked, courted by private banks, and offered the full menu of structured products. But the options on the table for the family office weren’t very attractive. “The products [banks] were pitching us were stacked with fees but with a risk-reward that wasn't really lucrative enough,” he tells us.

The best-performing strategy the small team had found was the simplest one: pick companies they believed in and buy the stock directly. Long-only, execution-only, no intermediary. So they decided to build that into a proper fund — and then hire the team to do it properly.

The other problem the hedge fund is trying to fix: The best-performing hedge funds in the world are largely closed to new investors, and what the private banks can actually offer is the leftover allocation — a slot that opened up because someone else got rotated out, Omar explains. “You end up getting allocated to an up-and-coming,” he says. “It could be a fantastic business — or they blow up in six months.”

The result is a USD 975 mn multi-strategy hedge fund that launched with a USD 700 mn soft close in August 2024 and scaled up earlier this year — one of the largest hedge fund debuts the Gulf has seen. The fund runs three strategies it believes are decorrelated from each other: long-only equities for the long-term upside, long-short to reduce drawdown volatility when markets sell off, and emerging market credit where Omar sees an edge the fund's geography gives it. “We live here, we're based here, and we can recognize dislocation when we see it, probably more than international investors,” he explains. Meanwhile, US high-yield spreads, by contrast, are at their tightest in 15 years — not where Magellan wants to be playing.

The Magellan Asset-backed Opportunities Fund is its latest bet — and it targets another gap facing firms in the region. Launched this month with USD 50 mn in seed capital and a target of USD 250 mn AUM, it comes at a time when the private sector, and in particular SMEs — already an underserved segment — are facing an environment of tightened liquidity. Banks, he tells us, tend to seize up and step back in times like these, which is where investors like Magellan can step in. “Good businesses are still going to be good businesses,” even if the environment is not a supportive one for a period of a few months, he says.

REMEMBER- We reported last week that banks are likely to tighten their purses this year, with lending growth expected to come in at 8-10%, slightly slower than the double-digit expansion the sector has been experiencing over the past few years, as they review their risk appetite.

It’s a tried and true strategy: The model was proved, at a smaller scale, through a December 2024 investment with Beehive, one of the GCC's leading SME lending platforms, Omar tells us. The data from that investment, he says, was “very strong, very promising” — enough to build a fund around.

The advisory business is the third leg. Its thesis is, once again, there is a gap where mid-market firms’ advisors should be, Omar explains. Bulge bracket banks won't do small transactions, simply because the economics don't work for them. “The amount of work they do in a USD 1 bn transaction is the same as in a USD 20 bn one,” Omar said.

That leaves many businesses with advisory needs with very limited options, and many end up hiring a Big Four accounting firm, which is not the same thing, Omar tells us. Magellan is positioning itself to fill that gap — and Omar tells us the goal is to bring international-caliber execution at a fraction of the cost. The firm has worked on restructuring deals in the EPC and offshore oilfield services sectors, and recently advised offshore marine services firm HEA Energy on a USD 550 mn bond.

The firm is now 40 people — 25 investment professionals and around 15 in support and back office — up from three at inception. Hiring, Omar says, is the hardest bottleneck: one bad hire in a small team creates outsized damage, and good talent is scarce. Dubai's quality of life and zero-tax environment have helped; whether the regional conflict has changed that calculus is, as Omar puts it, yet to be tested.

REMEMBER- In May 2025, a former Magellan portfolio manager filed complaints with the DFSA and the UK Financial Conduct Authority, alleging that losses had been concealed and that staff had been blocked from raising risk concerns. The regulatory process concluded in October 2025, with Magellan saying the DFSA found no evidence of regulatory breaches.

Good things come to those who wait

Burjeel Holdings made its debt market debut with a USD 500 mn sukuk that drew more than USD 1.6 bn in orders, according to a press release (pdf). The heavy demand gave the UAE healthcare provider ample room to tighten pricing, securing one of the lowest five-year funding costs achieved by a GCC-based private non-investment grade corporate issuer in recent years.

Good things come to those who wait: The issuance, which the firm had delayed back in April as the war widened spreads, was oversubscribed 3.2x, with international investors taking the lion’s share, accounting for 61% of the final allocation.

The sukuk — Burjeel’s first public debt issuance and the first offering from a MENA healthcare company since 2018 — was priced at a 7% profit-rate and a yield of 7.125%, tightened from initial guidance in the mid-7% range. Proceeds will be used to refinance existing debt and support the company’s broader growth agenda as it expands its healthcare platform across the region. It was rated BB+ by S&P Global Ratings and Ba2 by Moody’s.

The transaction also marks the first UAE corporate bond or sukuk issuance since the recent bout of regional geopolitical tensions. Regional issuance reached 11.2 bn in May, as we’ve previously reported, while investment-grade spreads have largely tightened back to pre-war levels. Recent issuances by UAE lenders, including First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), Mashreq, and Emirates NBD, suggest investor appetite for regional credit remains intact.

ADVISORS- Citi, Emirates NBD Capital, and FAB were global coordinators, joined by bookrunners Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, RAKBANK, and Sharjah Islamic Bank. Emirates NBD Capital and FAB also served as structuring banks.

Revora raises for Saudi expansion, Varenne opens up in DIFC, another addition comes to Abu Dhabi’s culture scene, and India’s Rites to form UAE JV

USD 2 mn for Saudi expansion

Revora raises USD 2 mn to expand in Saudi Arabia: UAE-based AI commerce startup Revora raised a USD 2 mn seed round co-led by i2i Ventures and Oraseya Capital, with proceeds earmarked mainly for Saudi expansion, according to a press release. It also saw participation from Anchorless Bangladesh, Conjunction Capital, F6 Ventures, Hi2 Global, Orbit Startups, and strategic angels including Salla co-founder Salman Butt and operators from Bolt, Mubadala, and EY.

The company — FKA MyAlice — develops AI tools that help e-commerce merchants automate sales and customer interactions. It operates in more than 21 countries and says revenue grew 10x after it pivoted to Saudi Arabia and the GCC in 2024. Revora was founded in 2021 by Shuvo Rahman and Daniyal Baig.

Varenne Capital Partners opens DIFC office

French asset manager Varenne Capital Partners opened an office in the DIFC, marking its expansion into the UAE and adding to a growing number of European asset managers increasing their presence in Dubai’s financial hub despite regional tensions, according to a press release. The office will be led by Giacomo de Nardis (LinkedIn) as senior executive officer.

New performing arts venue coming to Saadiyat Island

Abu Dhabi is expanding the Saadiyat Cultural District with a new performing arts venue. Dar Al Funoon Abu Dhabi is set to open on Saadiyat Island in 2030 with a total capacity of more than 6k seats, according to Abu Dhabi Media Office. The emirate has continued to invest in cultural attractions on Saadiyat, recently adding the Zayed National Museum to its cultural offerings, which also includes the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the upcoming Guggenheim.

India’s Rites forms UAE JV

India’s Rites is deepening its UAE push: Indian state-owned transport and infrastructure company Rites secured board approval to set up a joint venture with UAE-based NICC Infrastructure Construction, according to a regulatory filing (pdf). The company has yet to disclose details on ownership structure, capital backing, or the specific activities the venture will undertake.

Remember: Rites has been eyeing cooperation with UAE entities for a while now, having signed an MoU with Etihad Rail back in 2024 to explore cooperation on rail infrastructure project development. Earlier the same year, the company signed an agreement with AD Ports on possible collaborations across ports, logistics parks, economic and freezones, rail infrastructure, and projects linked to the planned India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. It also inked a similar agreement with DP World in 2025.

Wall Street’s payday

Wall Street is preparing another bumper payday for shareholders after the biggest US banks cleared the Federal Reserve’s annual stress tests. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley all announced dividend increases within hours of the results, Bloomberg reports.

The payouts keep getting bigger: The six largest US banks returned more than USD 140 bn to shareholders through dividends and buybacks last year, surpassing the previous record set in 2019. The lenders also posted their strongest combined bottom lines since 2021, helped by record trading revenue.

This year’s exam came with a twist: Unlike previous years, banks no longer have to wait before announcing capital plans while the Fed overhauls the exercise. The agency said there is “no expectation” that lenders delay public disclosures of planned capital actions through 3Q 2027 — and separately froze stress-capital buffers until 2027, meaning this year's exam won't affect capital requirements.

The tests still matter: Introduced after the 2008 financial crisis, the tests measure whether banks could keep lending through a severe recession and market shock. But the annual review has become less onerous in recent years, with regulators moving toward a more bank-friendly framework.

JPMorgan led the payouts: JPMorgan lifted its quarterly dividend to USD 1.65 a share from USD 1.50 and authorized a fresh USD 50 bn buyback. Meanwhile:

Goldman Sachs raised its payout to USD 5 from USD 4.50;
Citigroup to USD 0.67 from USD 0.60;
Wells Fargo to USD 0.50 from USD 0.45;
Morgan Stanley to USD 1.15 from USD 1;
Bank of America said it will announce its next quarterly dividend after its July board meeting and had almost USD 23 bn remaining on its buyback plan at the end of March.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Japan’s SoftBank fell 13%, leading declines across Asian equities as concerns mount over the rising costs of the AI boom. The decline dragged Japan’s Nikkei down 0.9%, while South Korean equities also fell 1.4%, led by declines across chipmakers. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1% while the mainland’s CSI 300 lost 0.8%.

Over on Wall Street, futures are hovering near the flatline after a similar sell-off among tech equities on the Nasdaq and S&P 500 yesterday.

ADX	9,876	-1.2% (YTD: -1.2%)
DFM	6,025	-1.4% (YTD: -0.4%)
Nasdaq Dubai UAE20	4,745	-2.2% (YTD: -2.9%)
USD : AED CBUAE	Buy 3.67	Sell 3.67
EIBOR	3.4% o/n	4.1% 1 yr
TASI	10,933	-0.7% (YTD: +4.2%)
EGX30	51,443	-0.5% (YTD: +22.9%)
S&P 500	7,357	-0.0% (YTD: +7.5%)
FTSE 100	10,530	+0.7% (YTD: +6%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,268	+0.9% (YTD: +8.2%)
Brent crude	USD 74.73	-0.7%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.32	-0.8%
Gold	USD 4,034.5	-0.3%
BTC	USD 59,420	-2.5% (YTD: -33%)
Chimera JP Morgan UAE Bond UCITS ETF	AED 3.73	+0.3% (YTD: +1.7%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	152.61	+0.1% (YTD: +0.5%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	18.89	+1.4% (YTD: +26.4%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The DFM fell 1.4% yesterday on turnover of AED 1.0 bn. The index is down 0.4% YTD.

In the green: Spinneys (+2.4%), Mashreqbank (+1.5%), and Ithmaar Holding (+1.0%).

In the red: National Cement Company (-5.0%), BHM Capital Financial Services (-4.3%), and Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (-4.1%).

Over on the ADX, the index fell 1.2% on turnover of AED 1.7 bn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai was down 2.2%.

The Emirati who took crypto payments to the Dubai government

Mohammed Al Hakim says he was the first GCC national to take on a leading role at the helm of a crypto firm in the region. Before his move to become president and general manager for UAE and Bahrain of Crypto.com, Al Hakim was working at the Human Resources and Emiratization Ministry when Crypto.com’s President Eric Anziani asked him if he would consider joining the digital asset space. His response: “Why not?”

Now, he heads up Crypto.com’s operations in the UAE as it looks to become a financial technology platform and “put crypto in every wallet,” as Al Hakim puts it. The firm became one of the first crypto platforms to receive full operational approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in 2024, and it quickly began to integrate its payments platform across key services like flight payments for Emirates, and to enable stablecoin payments for government services — a first in the industry.

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 spoke with Al Hakim (LinkedIn) about how working in the government helped pave the way for his partnerships with the government at Crypto.com, his preference for in-person meetings, and his daily routine. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

EnterpriseAM: Tell us about yourself and your role at Crypto.com.

Mohammed Al Hakim: I oversee Crypto.com’s UAE operations and lead on strategic initiatives to expand its GCC presence. I also collaborate closely with UAE government entities, blockchains, and fintechs to strengthen the region’s leadership in digital transformation and financial innovation.

For example, I spearheaded partnership agreements with the Dubai government’s finance department to allow crypto payments on government portals, websites, and POS systems.

E: How was the experience of pitching the idea of crypto payments for government fees to the Dubai authorities?

MH: The UAE government is really open. It’s part of our hospitality as Emiratis — we always want to make everyone feel welcome and try to open the right doors for people and guide them in the right direction.

When I went to the Dubai government pitching the idea of introducing crypto payments, there were initially some questions, which is natural given that the digital asset space is still relatively new, but now everyone is comfortable with it. We put forward a comprehensive plan, making sure there was no risk on their side and they’d be settling with us the same way they would be with Visa, Mastercard, and banks. We showed them it was much faster and more convenient than using a debit or credit card.

The more traditional financial institutions took a bit more convincing, but I was getting up at 5am to make 7:30am meetings with the Central Bank of the UAE to show we were keen and able to deliver and were following all the regulations. The UAE was the first globally to have a virtual assets regulatory authority, and part of the reason behind Crypto.com’s success today is the UAE government and regulators wanting us to be successful. They believed that it wouldn’t just benefit us but the wider ecosystem itself.

E: What’s the biggest trend in the digital asset space that you’re keeping an eye on?

MH: Right now, tokenization is a massive buzzword, but it’s a phenomenon that is truly happening across the board. It has a huge future given that it’s making investing more affordable for everyone. Before, it would’ve cost a lifetime of savings to buy a studio apartment, but now you’re able to buy a fraction of it, and so everyone can get a slice of the cake.

Our conviction is that all asset classes — from equities and commodities to bonds and funds — will progressively be tokenized on the blockchain. All these technologies have the potential to reshape industries like finance, real estate, logistics, and government services, and we’re still in the early chapters of their story.

E: What does a typical morning and workday look like for you?

MH: Our team is spread across different time zones, so I am used to waking up early. I’ll pray, head to the gym to work out, eat breakfast, and then by 7:30am or 8am, I’m in the office. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are for the office, and then from Wednesday afternoon through Friday, I try to be around the DIFC area so that I can meet with clients face to face.

I’m a believer in the idea that if you want business, you have to go to it. I don’t want clients to have to come all the way to me. I also don’t prefer virtual meetings, and so whenever possible, I’ll pick up the phone instead and say I’m driving over right away. Often, I end up having back-to-back meetings all afternoon.

E: How does everyone at Crypto.com keep up with each other given the large geographical scope of operations?

MH: We speak to each other regularly. If I reach out to our group president or CFO, they’ll respond on the spot. It’s not the kind of place where you need to have an appointment. No matter where you are, you’ll get a response to your message straight away.

One thing about the Crypto.com team is that we all really love our jobs so, even on weekends, if any of us has a question, we’ll reply straight away. It’s a fun sector to be a part of, and we have this family dynamic. Sometimes on the weekend, I’ll just drop someone a message as I miss talking to them.

E: How do you switch off after the workday?

MH: When you’re the GM, there’s a responsibility there, and you need to be willing to take up that responsibility and deliver on your commitments day and night. During the recent challenges with the war, for example, I made sure to put the safety of our employees first and keep everyone updated on the situation.

E: What’s something from your earlier career days that has stuck with you?

MH: From my government days, I learned never to ignore someone — no matter how big or small the company is. It’s important to go out of your way to make time to meet them, even if only for 10 minutes. Having those conversations and showing that respect is what makes us human.

Later on in my career, I remember Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum telling me he was proud of what we’d done in the digital assets space, and he told me to keep going, right after I graduated from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Leadership Program.

Mohammed’s favorites

What he reads: I recently read The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains by Anthony Lewis, which is a very interesting read. I also like Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud by Ben McKenzie and Jacob Silverman. The title gives one impression, but the book is actually about something else entirely.

What he watches: I like the movie Catch Me If You Can. A governor at the central bank once compared me to the main character because I’m always running around and can be hard to keep up with.

Favorite piece of advice: One piece of advice that stuck with me was from my grandmother when I just started my first job. She told me to always remember to work with honesty and dignity, which is something I live by. People have told me they put their trust in me because I’ve always been completely honest with them.

CALENDAR

JULY

28-29 July (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

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.

14-17 September (Monday-Thursday): Arabian Travel Market, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

15-16 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

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.

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.

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.

8-9 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

8-10 December (Tuesday-Thursday): Abu Dhabi Water & Power Week, Adnec Center, 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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