Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund L’Imad Holding is considering a bid for a stake in Atlas Air Worldwide, one of the world’s largest air cargo operators.

The Purchase, N.Y based company, which is owned by an Apollo Global Management-led investor group, could be valued at $10 billion or more, Bloomberg reports.

A deal would expand L’Imad’s transport and logistics holdings as the UAE develops trade routes that bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

Talks remain at an early stage, and L’Imad could decide not to bid, the news agency said.

U.S. hotel giant Hilton is seeing a rapid recovery in the Middle East and plans to push ahead with an aggressive expansion plan, which includes a pipeline of 85 new hotels in Saudi Arabia.

Hilton saw its regional revenues plunge by about 30% in the second quarter, following the outbreak of the Iran conflict, but the group expects a return to prewar levels next year, Simon Vincent, Hilton’s president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, told The National.

Vincent said the company is on track to more than double its regional portfolio to over 230 hotels. “There’s still appetite to build new hotels,” he told the newspaper on the sidelines of Arabian Travel Market in Dubai. 

Announcing two major tourism marketing initiatives, UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq told guests at ATM earlier in the week that the UAE had built the foundation for its recovery over the past 50 years.

“We saw the storm. We were in the middle of the storm, and we managed to maneuver ourselves perfectly,” Bin Touq said. “Whenever the storms hit our shores, we’re ready to take it on.”

McLaren Automotive is planning to invest $674 million in a new U.K. factory, as Abu Dhabi’s L’Imad sovereign wealth fund works to reboot the cash-strapped British supercar-maker and help launch its first SUV.

The move, which will create 1,000 new jobs by 2032, is a welcome boost for U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham amid thousands of job cuts at Jaguar Land Rover and wider cost pressures on Europe’s carmakers.

McLaren CEO Nick Collins told Bloomberg that an SUV would broaden the brand’s appeal beyond racing fans, following a similar path to luxury supercar makers like Ferrari and Lamborghini.

“In the way we’re going to do it, there’s absolutely space for another one,” he said.

L’Imad took control of McLaren from Abu Dhabi’s CYVN Holdings, which had purchased it from Bahrain’s Mumtalakat sovereign fund.

The UAE may temporarily overtake Saudi Arabia as the Gulf’s largest oil exporter after drone attacks shut a pipeline that had become Riyadh’s primary export route.

Saudi Arabia has halted the flow of oil through its East-West pipeline and is believed to have paused Red Sea exports entirely, potentially removing about 3 million barrels a day from the market, Arabian Gulf Business Insight reports.

Repairing damage from the drone strikes could keep the pipeline closed for six weeks, costing the kingdom tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue, Bloomberg reports.

The UAE national oil company ADNOC meanwhile, has restored production to about 3.6 million barrels a day and is expanding its pipeline network to its Fujairah port, allowing more crude to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

Any lead is likely to be brief: Saudi Arabia has far greater production capacity and long-standing customer relationships that the UAE cannot easily displace once its export routes reopen, according to AGBI.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa pitched his country as an investment opportunity for the Gulf countries as it emerges from years of civil war and economic disaster.

Speaking in Dubai on Tuesday at the Arab Media Summit, al-Sharaa proposed using Syria as a regional logistics hub and farming resource.

“Syria has enormous investment opportunities, particularly for Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, as well as investors from the UAE and elsewhere,” al-Sharaa told a packed hall at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Syria has attracted more than $30 billion in investment commitments, with projects in real estate and tourism in final negotiations, he said.

After nearly two years without a U.S. ambassador in Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump has nominated Texas Congressman Wesley Hunt to fill the post.

Hunt, one of the first Black Republicans elected to the House from Texas, recently fought an unsuccessful three-way Republican primary battle for a U.S. Senate seat, Politico reports.

Hunt’s nomination arrives amid new strains to the U.S.-Saudi relationship after Trump reportedly declined Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s request for direct U.S. strikes against the Houthis, offering intelligence and targeting support instead.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is preparing to send more oil through the Strait of Hormuz after attacks shut down the main pipeline that had allowed it to avoid the dangerous waterway. The move will expose more Aramco crude shipments to a route at the center of the U.S.-Iran war, where tankers face the threat of attacks and prolonged disruption, Bloomberg reports. 

The kingdom’s East-West pipeline, which carries millions of barrels a day to the Red Sea, could remain closed for several weeks after being struck at two points last week.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed met Citigroup Chair and CEO Jane Fraser to discuss developing closer banking ties and ideas for promoting business growth in the UAE.

Joining the prince at the meeting with Fraser in the UAE capital were Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, and Saif Saeed Ghobash, Secretary General of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, the Emirates News Agency reported on Monday.

Fraser, who became the first woman to lead a major U.S. bank in 2021, has overseen a broad restructuring of Citi, which uses the UAE as its regional hub for the Middle East and Africa. The bank has been expanding its wealth business in the Gulf and has plans to triple the assets it manages in the UAE.

“The meeting explored opportunities to strengthen cooperation in the banking sector and develop financial solutions that enhance the efficiency of the business ecosystem and support sustainable growth across various economic sectors,” the state news agency said.

As the first visitors made their way through the halls of Dubai World Trade Centre today for the opening of Arabian Travel Market, a cautious sense of optimism around the Gulf’s tourism recovery was evident. 

Finally underway after being rescheduled twice since the outbreak of the Iran war, ATM is one of the first major events to kick off a packed year-end calendar in the Gulf, with Dubai alone preparing to host more than 100 exhibitions before the end of the year. GITEX Global, rescheduled to December, is expecting to draw 200,000 attendees. 

Airlines, hotel chains, travel agencies and tourism authorities were all keen to put aside the disruption and disappointments of the past seven months and make the most of being in the same room once again.

Muna Mustafa, Co-Founder of luxury dining concierge business Supper Club, told The Circuit’s Omnia Al Desoukie that she was “pleasantly surprised at the energy, the number of people that are here, the hotels that are here.”

The return of major events comes amid signs of recovery in Dubai’s tourism sector, with new figures showing that August saw 869,000 international overnight visitors and hotel occupancy of 66% – a recovery to about 89% of August 2025 levels and a far cry from the lows of 36% seen in March. 

With schools returning from the long summer break, analysts are also watching to see if residents will return in strength. Dubai-listed Taaleem Holdings has seen enrollment across its private schools rise roughly 7% from the previous academic year, Bloomberg reports.