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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.

Since its inception in the 1970s, the Islamic finance industry continues to flourish into new horizons, the ethical-based concept was founded to meet the demand of a select group (yet a large population) of consumers and investors and is now recognized as a leading global segment within the global financial services industry. Islamic banking has driven much of this growth, due to the advancement and enabling infrastructure of the banking system, in addition to the collective efforts of bankers and scholars.

With the Chinese financial services industry entering international jurisdictions, where does Islamic Finance fall in it's path of growth?

As economies look to diversify their global trade relations, the Gulf region advances as a favourable market to consider. Read the full article written by our very own Audit Partner Darren Yule.

Unlocking real value from your financial statements is underpinned by several elements, which include the motive of the stakeholder, the ability to assess the information beyond numbers and ultimately understanding what the statement is depicting in real terms. In our whitepaper in collaboration with ACCA, we share several strategies which finance professionals can implement in order to analyse data effectively whilst unlocking real value from financial statements.

As businesses continue to operate in an increasingly complex environment, the need to invest and drive a budgeting mindset, which will contribute significantly to the execution of a growth strategy is more so imperative than ever before. In our whitepaper in collaboration with ACCA, we share several budgeting strategies which finance professionals can implement in order to optimize the process, whilst effectively contributing to growth.