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Deciding whether to exit your business can feel overwhelming. Prior to commencing on an intensive, but ultimately rewarding journey and to help you navigate through the process, we have prepared an illustrative ten-point guide which explains what is involved in a typical sales process.

M&A continued to prosper in the first five months of 2022 after a record-breaking year in 2021, although the 16 June 2022 US Federal Reserve Bank interest rate increase coupled with increased macroeconomic uncertainty marked a significant turning point for the global deal market.

In spite of the global downturn in the capital markets, the UAE has not only resisted this trend but has even shown record levels of IPO activity. This trend is likely to continue and provide organisations and shareholders new avenues for growth.

Heading towards the new year, food security remains on top of the agenda for the region, while enhancements in food tech, and the continued rise of meat and dairy alternatives providing have proved to be a nifty tool to combat lingering supply chain and labor shortages and addressing food security.

Despite the recent global market downturn and recession fears, economic sentiment remains strong within the GCC region on the back of growth in the tourism and oil.

Q1 has seen a continued rise in deal activity in a number of sectors within our M&A and Transactions Advisory team. Following on from our Q4 2021 update, we are delighted to share this quarter's Food & Beverage (F&B) edition, summarising key themes, issues and activity in the sector. It has been a busy start to the year in F&B across the GCC and broader MENA region and we will continue to watch closely throughout the year.

Our M&A and Transactions Advisory team actively originates and executes transactions across a range of sectors. Some of the current as well as recently completed transactions include businesses in logistics, technology, real estate, food & beverage, healthcare, education, financial services and energy sectors.

Grant Thornton UAE is pleased to present our annual Internal Control over Financial Reporting (ICFR) Benchmarking survey regarding compliance with UAE Insurance Authority Circular No. 21 of 2019 in the UAE Insurance Industry.

In this tax alert, our specialists, Steven Ireland and Muhammad Bhagat clarify the annual reporting requirements for all entities classified as Financial Institutions for FATCA and CRS Reporting (including the filing of Nil Returns) as stipulated within the regulations.

Each year Grant Thornton releases a comprehensive IFRS guide to the market where we cover both the new standards as well as any amendments that have been made to existing ones. This publication is designed to give preparers of IFRS financial statements a high-level awareness of recent changes to International Financial Reporting Standards.

The GCC is emerging stronger than ever with diversified and efficient economies becoming magnets for investment and new ideas, and hence, influencing a global shift towards the region. Such seismic shifts will drive new market entrants, along with opportunities to invest in new markets.

Events are unfolding with astounding speed, unveiling the outbreak’s repercussions on all sectors with some businesses suffering immediate and major distress. The global spread of the outbreak means that most, if not all, industries will face significant turmoil, and that disruption is inevitable.

Fortunately, our understanding of how to address the challenges of COVID-19 is improving every day. Our medical and scientific communities are learning and adopting new strategies to deal with the current global crisis, as are the world's policymakers.

Let’s call a meeting to discuss COVID-19 epidemic risk management. No, let's not. Calling a meeting creates a state of panic and promotes congregating in groups at a time when a virus can be transmitted to two people from one infected person- it is not a good idea. What is, however, is having team leaders, risk champions, business continuity professionals, Human Resources, and communications teams collaborate online and agree on a comprehensive strategy to manage the risk and here is how to do it.

FIs need to re-focus their businesses and reconsider strategies to respond to the large amount of regulation, in an economic environment that is fundamentally more restraining. This can be achieved via five key areas of transformation for 2020 and beyond.

REITs, which are a subset of property funds, have been a rapidly growing asset class worldwide and signs of this growth have more recently also been seen in the GCC, enabling access to the region’s vibrant property market to people across the world.