Abu Dhabi Vaccine tourism

Abu Dhabi International Airport receives 5.26 million visitors in 2021

The airport handled 711,715 tonnes of freight in 2021

Cover story: Why Emirati entrepreneur Mahmoud Bartawi is confident on the future of healthy dining

Mahmoud Bartawi sold his successful healthy food business Under500 to Kitopi. Now he is ready to launch his next venture called Mealzap

Why sustainability must be a top priority for UAE organisations

Epson’s EMEAR president and CEO, Yoshiro Nagafusa shares their roadmap towards sustainable transformation through technology innovation

UAE digital bank Zand wins backing from Franklin, Aditya Birla

Digital banks have taken off with the spread of finance technology in Middle East

Bharain investcorp

Bahrain’s Investcorp acquires 64 industrial properties worth $640m in the US

The latest acquisitions grows Investcorp’s US industrial real estate holdings to approximately $3.5bn across approximately 32 million sq ft

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund backs new digital bank called D360

The Saudi cabinet approved a licence for D360 bank on Tuesday

ADNOC, Borealis hiring banks for IPO of plastics joint venture

Borouge manufactures plastics used in everything from automobiles and food packaging to medicine vials and piping systems

Dragon Oil

Dubai’s Dragon Oil confirms first oil discovery in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez

The field could contain around 100 million barrels in reserves

Flydubai to resume flights to Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport next month

With the resumption, the airline will increase its overall flight frequency to Istanbul to 12 per week

Saudi Arabia-based Nadec’s solar park now operational

The solar photovoltaic park, developed by Nadec and French energy company Engie, is estimated to lower carbon emissions by 53 million kg per year

UAE car-sharing platform ekar expands to Malaysia

The company’s car subscription service will be the first offering available, starting in Kuala Lumpur

Flooss, a new digital payment platform, launched in Bahrain

Mastercard has partnered with Payment International Enterprise to launch Flooss across Bahrain and the region

Covid-19: UAE reports 930 cases, lowest in almost 8 weeks

The nationwide case count has risen to 870,358

Dubai Islamic Bank lists $750m sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai

The issuance was oversubscribed by more than 2.5 times

Israeli firm to help Dubai’s Mashreqbank detect financial crimes

It follows Israel and the UAE normalising relations in 2020

Dubai’s DP World launches new intermodal shipment tracking tool

Cargoes Flow will provide an end-to-end visibility for shipments irrespective of their shipping modes, carriers, and shipping lanes

Middle East M&A activity scales 51% in 2021

The region’s M&A deal volumes for FY 2021 were up 58 per cent from 2020

Why the CEO of CoinMENA thinks cryptocurrencies are the future of finance

Looking to invest in crypto assets? Talal Tabbaa advises starting small, paying attention to trends and adopting a long-term outlook

Getty Images

UAE’s Amana Group transforms business applications with Oracle Cloud

The construction conglomerate automates finance and HR with Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications to enhance operational efficiency

Food

Gulfood 2022: UAE’s F&B trade crosses $20bn from January-September 2021

Ten markets accounted for about 66 per cent of the UAE’s total F&B exports, with Saudi Arabia ranking first with a share of 17 per cent

Lenovo

Dubai: Gems Education, Lenovo launch region’s first esports zone in a school

The Legion Gaming Zone at Gems Modern Academy in Dubai will accelerate opportunities for students in gaming

Dubai’s Emaar Properties posts 80% rise in net profit for 2021

Its 2021 revenue stood at $7.697bn, posting an increase of 57 per cent compared to the previous year

Brazil

UAE’s Mubadala Capital raises $322m in first investment fund in Brazil

Mubadala Capital manages over $10bn of assets in third-party managed funds across its Brazil, private equity, public equities and venture capital businesses

Air Arabia

Air Arabia Egypt announces new service between Sohag and Gassim

The once-weekly flight will operate every Thursday and will be the seventh destination that the airline flies to in Saudi Arabia

Hands-on review: Huawei MateBook E

Weighing only 709g, the MateBook E is a 3-screens-in-1 laptop that is lightweight and portable

UAE reports 1,191 Covid-19 cases, 2,713 recoveries

The nationwide case count has risen to 869,428

Saudi’s Trukker raises $96m in equity, debt funding

The deal follows a $23m equity raise in 2019

Dubai SME and Khalifa Fund announce collaboration to leverage Gulfood

The collaboration will enable UAE-based SMEs to gain easy access to new markets

Saudi pharma retail chain Al Dawaa seeks $500m from IPO

The initial public offering’s price range has been set at SAR65-SAR73

UAE’s Aldar to receive $1.4bn investment from Apollo Global Management

The deal will see Apollo take a direct minority stake in Aldar Investment Properties at its net asset value