The Gulf Times reported on August 4, 2019 that Ernst & Young reported that in the first half of 2019, the United Arab Emirates attracted the most foreign capital acquisitions in Central and Northeast Africa. The UAE has signed 20 investment and merger agreements totalling $14.4 billion, including huge deals from Adnoc and Areem.

In the first half of this year, M&A transactions in the Middle East and North Africa region amounted to 115.5 billion US dollars, an increase of 221% compared with 36 billion US dollars in the same period in 2008; the number of transactions was 216, down from 242 in the same period last year, a decrease of 10.7% over the same period last year.

The main reason for the jump in mergers and acquisitions is the acquisition of 70% of Sabic's equity by Saudi Amy, a Saudi public investment fund, with a transaction value of $69.1 billion. State-owned enterprises, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Adnoc and Adia, participated in 55 transactions worth $104.5 billion, accounting for 90% of the total.

The top five industries with transaction value were chemical industry ($69.3 billion), oil and gas industry ($14.2 billion), medical service industry ($10.3 billion), financial industry ($5.1 billion) and technology industry ($4.3 billion).