Here’s your weekly spin around the Middle East and its global orbit. From market moves and power plays to deals, and surprises that set the news agenda, this wrap captures the stories around the region, and the ripple effects.
🚩Things You Need to Know:
First up: Meet the Middle East’s next investment powerhouse. Abu Dhabi has launched one of the most significant sovereign wealth restructurings in nearly a decade, folding the $263 billion ADQ into the newly created L’imad Holding Co. and placing Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed at the helm of a vastly expanded capital platform.
The move adds another heavyweight to Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investment ecosystem, which manages roughly $2 trillion in assets through entities including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Mubadala Investment Co.
It continues a pattern of strategic consolidations. In 2018, Abu Dhabi merged the Abu Dhabi Investment Council with Mubadala Investment Company, forming a $200 billion-plus fund at the time. In 2017, its biggest banks merged to create a banking behemoth in First Abu Dhabi Bank. And last year, Abu Dhabi’s biggest listed company International Holding Co. combined three portfolio companies to create a firm with $33 billion in assets.
🔍 What’s Changing
• ADQ’s $263 billion portfolio is being absorbed into L’imad
• Its board includes some of the most powerful people, including Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled, Mubadala Group CEO Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak and CEO Jassem Mohamed Bu Ataba Al Zaabi, who is on board of several Abu Dhabi entities.
• L’imad will control 25 investment companies and platforms and more than 250 subsidiaries.
🌍 L’imad’s Global Ambitions Are Already Visible
And for a newcomer, L’imad has made a blockbuster debut. It burst onto the global stage last year by backing Paramount Skydance Corp.’s headline-grabbing hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.
📈 Ripple Effect: Enter Lunate
The reshuffle is already stirring the emirate’s investment scene. Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, the former ADQ CEO, now heads Lunate, one of the emirate’s fastest-growing asset managers. With about $115 billion under management, Lunate is positioning itself as a global alternative investment platform. Read more here.
📌 Next-Gen Financial Hub: Dubai is going all-in on its financial district with a $27 billion boost, rolling out sleek office towers, futuristic tech hubs, and AI-ready spaces to keep global firms flocking to the Gulf’s ultimate business playground.
📌 Deals and Debt: Saudi Aramco kicked off 2026 with a $4 billion bond bonanza, proving the world still can’t get enough of the kingdom’s energy giant. Meanwhile, Dubai’s Property Finder just scored $170 million in fresh backing, including from Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala, bringing total funding for the classifieds website in recent months to nearly $1 billion. And on the green, Saudi-backed LIV Golf is teeing up minority stakes in its teams for the first time.
📌 The Gulf Beckons: Goldman Sachs is reportedly rolling out a high-powered task force to turbocharge its Middle East play, proof the region is now front-and-center in global growth. Meanwhile, State Street is adding 300+ jobs at its new Al Ain hub, showing Abu Dhabi is pulling in the world’s top financial talent.
📌 Saudi Snapshot: It’s a defining week for the kingdom. The country is mobilizing domestic billionaires, rolling out the red carpet for wealthy global investors, and diving headfirst into international bond markets, even as oil revenues soften. Check out our Saudi wrap.
📌 Quote of the Week
- “In Dubai, we do not wait for change, we make it. We transform dreams into a reality that speaks the language of leadership,” said Dubai’s Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
🚩 Market Wrap:
US stocks retreated Friday, with tech leading the slide, even after investors largely welcomed President Trump’s Fed pick, Kevin Warsh. The S&P 500 fell 0.43% to 6,939, the Dow dropped 179 points to 48,892, and the Nasdaq slid 0.94% to 23,462. Despite the pullback, the S&P still notched its best month since October and opened the year up over 1%.
A soaring dollar hit commodities hard: gold plunged in its biggest drop in four decades, silver tumbled, and Bitcoin marked its longest monthly losing streak since 2019.
Next week: All eyes now turn to mega earnings from Alphabet and Amazon after Microsoft’s disappointing report rattled markets.
🚩Gulf markets: Here’s a quick spin around the Gulf’s trading floors where the mood was one of caution. Gulf stocks ended the week in the red as worries over potential US military action against Iran rattled investors. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul edged down 0.7%, while Abu Dhabi and Dubai slipped 0.8% and 0.7% respectively. Qatar dipped 0.6%, Kuwait took the hardest hit at 2%, and Oman and Bahrain also closed lower, down 0.5% and 0.4%.
📌 Company News:
- Abu Dhabi Exchange to Explore Dual Listings With Euronext’s Borsa Italiana in Europe Push
- LVMH, Ferrari Anchor Mideast’s First Luxury ETF as ADX Expands Thematic Listings
- Mubadala Exits US Health Platform Arcadia Following Takeover By Bansk Group
- Emirates Global Aluminium, Century to Build First US Primary Aluminum Plant in 50 Years
- Abu Dhabi’s XRG Boosts Stake in Texas Rio Grande LNG Project
- Oman’s EDO Raises $750 Million From Bonds as Global Investors Flock to Gulf Debt
- Mubadala Capital Closes $554 Million Co-Investment Fund With Strong Global Demand
- Saudi Tasnee’s JV Secures $454 Million Shariah-Compliant Funding for Ethylene Expansion
📌 Top Earnings:
- Dubai’s Biggest Bank Plans To Ramp Up Expansion After Profit, Assets Surge To Records
- First Abu Dhabi Bank Profit Surges as Expansion, Wealth Tie-Ups Accelerate
- Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Reaffirms 2026 Guidance After Record Earnings
- Top Saudi Lenders See Double-Digit Profit Gains as Kingdom’s Growth Outlook Strengthens
- Dubai Stock Exchange Rides Record Volumes to Profit Surge and Rising Foreign Flows
🧑💼People News:
- Barclays Hires Emirates NBD Executive to Lead Middle East Private Banking in UK
- Dubai’s Nexus Wealth Hires Ex-FAB Banker to Lead Gulf Advisory Expansion
🚩 Gulf Markets at Close:
- Saudi Tadawul: -0.7%
- Abu Dhabi: -0.8%
- Dubai: -0.7%
- Qatar: -0.6%
- Kuwait: -2%
- Oman: -0.5%
- Bahrain: -0.4%
🏖️ Enjoy your weekend! Tomorrow, we’re back with the latest market action from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain. (Note: Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock markets trade Monday-Friday)
