UAE, Israel foster trade ties with new health agreement | Reuters
Israel and the United Arab Emirates on Friday signed a health agreement between the UAE's largest health player and Israeli's largest hospital, as the two sides seek to draw economic benefits from their almost three-year relationship.
PureHealth and Sheba Medical Center said they would cooperate on research, medical tourism, training and medical technology, under the memorandum of understanding.
The UAE became the first Gulf country to normalise relations with Israel in 2020, breaking with decades of Arab policy towards the Palestinian cause.
Both countries have pushed economic and trade cooperation as a way to show other countries the benefits of dealing with Israel.
Friday's agreement is the second UAE-Israel deal in as many days. On Thursday, Abu Dhabi's artificial intelligence firm G42 and Israeli investment group Viola announced a platform to supply high-skilled tech workers.
Mubadala's Cepsa mulls sale of chemical plant in China -sources | Reuters
Spanish company Cepsa is considering the sale of a chemical plant in Shanghai as the oil and gas company pivots to a greener strategy across its various business lines, according to three sources familiar with the situation.
A sale would see Cepsa's exit from China and comes afterthe company abandoned a plan to sell its entire chemical business due to disappointing offers, according to sources close to the negotiations.
A spokesperson for Cepsa declined to comment.
Cepsa, owned by Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala and private equity Carlyle, has unveiled an up to 8-billion euro ($8.8 billion) investment plan that will see the company generate the majority of its core earnings from sustainable businesses by 2030.
To accelerate and finance the strategy, the company has sold fossil fuel assets, including the March divestment of offshore fields in the United Arab Emirates to French oil company TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA).
Dubai, Abu Dhabi bourses end higher on Fed rate cheer | Reuters
Stock markets in the United Arab Emirates ended higher on Friday on expectations that the Federal Reserve was close to the end of its rate-hike cycle.
The Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday but signaled in new projections that borrowing costs may still need to rise by as much as half of a percentage point by the end of this year, as the U.S. central bank reacted to a stronger-than-expected economy and a slower decline in inflation.
Most Gulf currencies are pegged to the dollar and any monetary policy change in the United States is usually mimicked by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI) advanced 1.5%, buoyed by a 4.6% jump in Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU) after the blue-chip developer unveiled 'The Oasis', a $20 billion lifestyle destination, at Burj Khalifa gala with 7,000 residential units.
Among other gainers, toll operator Salik (SALIK.DU) was up 3.9%.
The Dubai index posted its third weekly gain of 2.5%.
In Abu Dhabi, the index (.FTFADGI) finished 0.7% higher, with Multiply Group (MULTIPLY.AD) rising 0.6%.
The index posted its first weekly gain of 0.8% in seven weeks.
The Abu Dhabi bourse recovered to a certain extent from the lows of this month but remained exposed to some uncertainty, said Ahmed Negm, Head of Market Research MENA at XS.com.
"The market could continue to react to the developments in the oil market in particular as expectations remained volatile to a certain extent."
Saudi Arabia Tourism Fund Plans $400 Million Expansion of Habitas Hotels - Bloomberg
Saudi Arabia is starting a 1.5 billion riyal ($400 million) fund to expand the free-spirited hospitality brand Habitas across the kingdom as part of its blitz to build a tourism industry from scratch.
The hotel and events company, which has its roots in creating camps at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert, plans to have as many as six new properties throughout the kingdom, in addition to two existing ones. The details aren’t finalized, but sites could range from the Red Sea coast to the inland capital of Riyadh. The aim is to attract new international visitors to Saudi Arabia—which first opened to tourists in 2019—as well as locals that haven’t done much domestic traveling.
“What’s amazing about the kingdom is just how diverse the geography is,” Chief Executive Officer Oliver Ripley says, adding that the investment in infrastructure has opened up much more of the country to potential visitors. “A lot of these locations were difficult to access, or access was until recently restricted for religious reasons.”
The funding will be anchored by the Saudi Tourism Development Fund, or TDF, which was established in June 2020 with an initial pot of 15 billion riyal to finance the industry’s growth. The kingdom’s goal is to more than double the number of tourists, to 100 million annually by 2030, including domestic travel, and increase tourism’s share of the economy from 3% to 10%, according to a document on the fund’s website. A spokesman for the TDF declined to answer questions for this story.
Amanat Hires FAB, EFG for Healthcare IPO in Abu Dhabi - Bloomberg
Amanat Holdings PJSC, a Dubai-based health care and education investment firm, has picked EFG Hermes and First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC to manage the planned initial public offering of its health care unit in Abu Dhabi, according to people familiar with the matter.
Amanat Healthcare’s offering could raise about $200 million and may happen as soon as this year, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public.
Details of the offering are preliminary and may change, the people said. Representatives for EFG Hermes, FAB and Amanat declined to comment.
Amanat, which is listed on the Dubai Financial Market, said in March that it would consolidate the assets of its health care vertical into Amanat Healthcare and prepare the unit for an IPO, without giving further details. Its shares rose as much as 5.8% on Friday.
OKX crypto exchange seeks Dubai regulation with eye on Middle East expansion | Reuters
OKX, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is seeking regulatory approval to operate in Dubai as it plans to expand the company's Middle East operations, an executive told Reuters on Thursday.
Regulation is an industry trend, OKX Global Head of Government Relations Tim Byun said.
"We would like to get ahead of that curve and be regulated in a sound manner," he said.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance and Coinbase, another two of the largest crypto exchanges, for allegedly breaching its rules.
