标签： North America

The United Arab Emirates has solidified its position as the epicenter of Middle Eastern and North African merger and acquisition activity, catalyzing a remarkable 26% surge in regional transactions during 2025. According to EY’s comprehensive Mena M&A Insights report, the region witnessed 884 deals valued at $106.1 billion, marking a substantial increase from the previous year’s 701 transactions.

The UAE’s dominance was particularly striking, accounting for nearly half of all inbound investment volume and an extraordinary 92% of total inbound value. The nation led domestic dealmaking with 131 local transactions—more than any other Mena country—while simultaneously attracting the region’s most substantial acquisitions. This dual strength demonstrates the Emirates’ unique position as both an originator and destination for strategic investments.

Cross-border transactions continued to shape the Mena landscape, representing 54% of deal count and 61% of total value. Sovereign wealth funds including Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Mubadala, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund emerged as pivotal players, deploying substantial capital for acquisitions within and beyond the region.

The year’s landmark transactions underscored the UAE’s sectoral diversity. The monumental $16.5 billion acquisition of a 64% stake in petrochemicals company Borouge by Austrian energy group OMV and subsidiary Borelis ranked as the largest deal. This was followed by L’IMAD Holding Company’s $13.8 billion purchase of an 84.76% stake in Modon Holding, and Multiply Group’s $7.7 billion acquisition of 42.2% of 2PointZero.

Inbound investment surged dramatically, with volume increasing 37% to 223 deals and value more than doubling to $25.4 billion. Austria emerged as the standout international investor, responsible for 65% of inbound value through just three chemical-sector transactions. Outbound activity similarly strengthened, climbing 29% to 256 deals worth $39.2 billion, with government-related entities from the UAE and Saudi Arabia accounting for 64% of this value.

Technology and diversified industrial products served as the region’s primary growth engines, contributing 38% of overall deal volume. Real estate—including hospitality and leisure—and asset management represented more than half of disclosed domestic deal value, signaling robust investor appetite for long-term assets.

Despite global political uncertainties and transformative technological shifts, the Mena M&A market demonstrated remarkable resilience. The UAE’s stable regulatory environment, expanding trade volumes, and economic diversification have positioned it as the region’s preeminent investment destination, cementing its status as an emerging global FDI powerhouse.

Fertiglobe, recognized as the world’s premier seaborne exporter of urea and ammonia products, has announced exceptional financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2025. The company, which serves as the exclusive ammonia platform for Adnoc and XRG, demonstrated remarkable growth with Q4 revenues surging 73% year-over-year to $808 million.

The full-year performance proved even more impressive, with annual revenues climbing 41% to $2.8 billion. Adjusted EBITDA reached $1.02 billion, representing a substantial 57% increase compared to 2024 figures. Net profit attributable to shareholders saw extraordinary growth, escalating by 87% to $325 million for the year.

Reflecting this robust financial performance, Fertiglobe’s Board has recommended second-half 2025 dividends of $135 million (6.1 fils per share), bringing total dividends for the year to $260 million. Combined with $74 million in share buybacks executed to date, the company has returned $334 million to shareholders in 2025 alone. This capital return strategy demonstrates Fertiglobe’s commitment to delivering competitive shareholder yields exceeding 5%.

Since its initial public offering, Fertiglobe has paid or committed to pay $2.9 billion in capital returns to shareholders. The company’s ongoing share repurchase program, targeting 2.5% of outstanding shares, has already resulted in the buyback of 111 million shares worth $74 million as of February 10, 2026.

The company’s financial position remains strong with a net debt of $1,006 million as of December 31, 2025, representing a conservative net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.0x. This solid balance sheet provides Fertiglobe with ample flexibility to pursue strategic growth investments while maintaining attractive shareholder distributions.

CEO Ahmed El-Hoshy attributed this success to disciplined execution of the Grow 2030 strategy, noting that ‘we have already activated more than 40% of our 2030 growth target.’ The strategy has focused on operational efficiency improvements, record production levels at facilities in Algeria and EFC-2, significant cost reductions, and strategic portfolio expansion.

Under Adnoc’s majority ownership, Fertiglobe has strengthened both its industrial and financial foundations, implementing 99% of cost optimization targets and advancing manufacturing improvement plans that have delivered 46% of planned reliability and energy efficiency gains. Strategic acquisitions, including Wengfu Australia, have expanded Fertiglobe’s global footprint while production scale-up of Diesel Exhaust Fluid and Automotive Grade Urea in Egypt and the UAE has created more resilient, higher-margin revenue streams.

The company remains well-positioned to capitalize on tight urea and ammonia markets, with current prices exceeding $500/t for Egypt FOB urea and $670/t for NW Europe ammonia. Fertiglobe’s outstanding safety performance in 2025 further underscores the comprehensive transformation underway across all operational aspects as the company progresses toward its zero-incident safety目标.

Major European aviation associations have issued a stark warning regarding the European Union’s newly implemented Entry/Exit System (EES), predicting potentially catastrophic disruptions during the upcoming peak travel season. In a coordinated appeal to European authorities, industry leaders expressed grave concerns about the system’s operational readiness.

The Airports Council International (ACI Europe), Airlines for Europe (A4E), and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) jointly communicated their apprehensions to European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner. Their letter highlighted that despite the system’s phased implementation since October, airports are already experiencing excessive border control waiting times extending to two hours.

The EES represents a significant technological advancement in border management, designed to replace traditional passport stamps with automated biometric data collection including photographs and fingerprints for non-EU nationals. The system aims to enhance information sharing among the 27 Schengen member states and improve detection of visa overstays and previously refused entrants.

However, aviation authorities identify two critical challenges: chronic understaffing at border control points and unresolved technical issues with the automated systems. The industry groups have urgently requested clarification regarding potential flexibility measures, including whether Schengen members might partially or fully suspend EES implementation until October to accommodate summer travel demands.

The core concern centers on projections that without immediate intervention, peak summer months could see queue times escalating to four hours or more, creating severe operational challenges for airports, airlines, and travelers alike. This warning comes as the European travel industry prepares for its busiest season since before the pandemic.