Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund plans to reduce its stake in Britain’s second-largest supermarket group Sainsbury’s SBRY.L by nearly 4 per cent, a term sheet showed on Tuesday, ending its near-two-decade reign as top shareholder in the chain.

Qatar Investment Authority plans to offer shares at 317.6 pence ($4.20) per share in a secondary offering with JPMorgan as the sole bookrunner, according to the term sheet. Sainsbury’s shares are up 23 per cent this year and closed at 326 pence on Tuesday.

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has been a Sainsbury’s shareholder since 2007. That year its holding peaked at 25 per cent and it abandoned a potential bid. It started selling in 2021.

In October last year, the fund reduced its holding by about 5 per cent through a nearly $400m share sale.

Qatar’s fund plans to sell shares worth about 265.5 million pounds, reducing its stake to 6.82 per cent from the current 10.48 per cent, according to LSEG data. The fund would drop to the fourth-largest shareholder from first place.

Sainsbury’s and the fund did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Sainsbury’s, whose UK grocery market share has grown to a near-decade high of 15.3 per cent, has said that it now expects to deliver retail underlying operating profit of more than 1 billion pounds for its year to March 2026.

It has a market capitalization of 7.44 billion pounds as of Tuesday’s close.

The first phase of oil giant Aramco’s 2222.SE Jafurah gas plant is complete and production has begun with a capacity of 450 million cubic feet per day, the Saudi finance ministry said on Tuesday.

Jafurah is potentially the biggest shale gas project outside the U.S. and is expected to reach sustainable production of 2 billion cubic feet per day by 2030. The finance ministry, in its 2026 budget statement, listed the milestone as an achievement reached in 2025.

Jafurah’s gas output will be used for domestic power generation, freeing up crude for export that is currently used for power in the kingdom. Aramco has said its unconventional gas programme at peak production is expected to generate electricity equivalent to displacing 500,000 barrels per day of oil.

The $100bn Jafurah project, estimated to contain 229 trillion standard cubic feet of raw gas, is central to Aramco’s ambitions to become a major global player in natural gas and boost its gas production capacity.

Aramco’s gas production was 12.6 billion cubic feet per day at the end of September, up from 12 bcfd a year earlier. Aramco last month said it was boosting its gas growth target to 80% above 2021 levels from a previous targeted growth of 60 per cent. In its 2021 annual report, Aramco said it reached a single-day record gas output at the time of 10.8 bcfd.

Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, who has called Jafurah a crown jewel in the company’s portfolio, said during an earnings call last month the first phase was on track for completion by the end of this year.

Aramco earlier this year raised $11bn from a lease and leaseback agreement of its Jafurah gas processing facilities with a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners, part of BlackRock BLK.N.

Aramco declined to comment.

The doors of the Zayed National Museum, located in the heart of Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Cultural District, opened to the public on December 3.

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Lord Norman Foster, the museum blends history, innovation, and culture.

The museum reflects how the story of the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, is deeply intertwined with that of the UAE, presenting his life as a lens through which to explore the values and aspirations that underpin the nation.

Visitors can enjoy immersive audiovisual displays, multisensory installations, and a collection of more than 3,000 objects, with 1,500 on display.

Zayed National Museum: Where culture and heritage meet

More than a museum, the destination offers a cultural experience: visitors can explore the permanent galleries, including Our Beginning, which traces the life and leadership of Sheikh Zayed; Through Our Nature, immersing guests in the UAE’s diverse landscapes; To Our Ancestors, showcasing 300,000 years of human presence; Through Our Connections, highlighting trade, technology, and the rise of shared identity; By Our Coasts, focusing on maritime heritage; and To Our Roots, reflecting traditional lifestyles and customs.

The museum also features the Al Masar Garden, a 600‑metre outdoor gallery connecting the Saadiyat coast to the museum, complete with native plants, a working falaj irrigation system, artistic sculptures, multisensory installations, and a timeline of Sheikh Zayed’s life.

Dining and leisure are part of the experience, with the fine dining Emirati restaurant Erth, Al Ghaf Cafe, and Garden Cafes.

Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, said: “As the national museum of the UAE, Zayed National Museum tells the unfolding story of the land and its people. It demonstrates the unifying power of our history and our culture, providing a space where citizens, residents and visitors can see themselves reflected in the story of our people and our land. Bridging past, present and future, it will help shape how we understand the UAE’s evolving cultural narrative. As a world-class centre for research and learning, it will inspire and equip the next generation of Emirati curators, historians and conservators, enabling our nation to further contribute to knowledge production and global cultural discourse.”

Month-long programme to mark the opening

To mark its opening, Zayed National Museum is welcoming the public to experience a programme of performances, workshops and cultural activities running until December 31 under the theme ‘Deep Roots and Everlasting Legacy’.

The museum’s indoor and outdoor spaces will be activated with diverse experiences that honour the UAE’s heritage and celebrate its culture.

The programme brings together music, dance and storytelling to connect audiences of all ages to the nation’s history and heritage.

Highlights include traditional Razfa and Naashat dances; an immersive Gahwa experience designed with Bait Al Gahwa, accompanied by poetry, Taghrooda music, Nahma seafaring chants and the Nadba mountain call; poetry performances; and musical recitals. Hands-on workshops will explore traditional crafts and arts inspired by the museum narrative and collections, and museum tours will be available. Workshops and tours require advance booking.

The museum’s retail shop, Al Nagwa Boutique, offers a curated selection of gifts and souvenirs inspired by the museum’s themes and collections.

Alongside cultural icons like Louvre Abu Dhabi and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum promises to be a lifestyle destination that celebrates the nation’s past while inspiring its future.

Zayed National Museum entry tickets and annual memberships are available at zayednationalmuseum.ae.

Across the Middle East, wealth and enterprise have long been deeply intertwined. Many wealthy families preserve generational wealth through privately owned, tightly held businesses. Historically, they have relied on trusted insiders – such as CFOs or in-house legal counsels – to manage both business and personal wealth.

This informal approach reflects regional norms where trust is cultivated through close-knit relationships. These informal structures are known as virtual family offices (VFOs) and allow families to selectively outsource services such as investment, legal and succession planning advice on an as-needed basis. VFOs operate without dedicated licences, office spaces or large in-house teams.

They leverage a network of trusted advisors, external specialists, and digital platforms to manage wealth.

While this approach has benefits like minimising fixed costs and streamlining administration, families increasingly recognise the need to institutionalise and professionalise their structures. This shift is driven in part by the adoption of diverse investment strategies that demand more robust governance.

In the region, families are moving beyond traditional sectors such as real estate and local businesses to explore global markets, private equity, venture capital, and sustainable investments, often also incorporating philanthropy into their plans.

Evolving complexities and risks – including navigating cross-border regulations, managing volatile markets, addressing governance challenges, and ensuring effective succession planning amid shifting family dynamics – also highlight the importance of enhanced institutionalisation and professionalism.

The shift toward single-family offices

This is why many are now exploring the establishment of dedicated single-family offices (SFOs) – structured entities that clearly separate personal wealth from businesses – establishing defined investment mandates and support generational transitions.

SFOs consolidate reporting and risk oversight, implement governance frameworks, attract professional talent, and formalise wealth transition plans.
These structures also prompt families to take a more holistic view of the ownership of their assets, considering not only the jurisdictions where their assets, structures and investments are held, but also the underlying legal frameworks.

Many families in the region are establishing trusts and foundations as part of their SFO structures, prompting them to think of succession planning from both an ownership and management perspective.

With a growing number of families across the Middle East embracing the future of wealth stewardship, our role as a private bank is to guide families through the journey towards building an enduring SFO with clarity, conviction, and purpose.

This journey starts with conversations on:

• Assessing readiness by evaluating the complexity of their wealth and identifying key drivers for institutionalisation.
• Defining objectives such as succession planning, governance frameworks, and investment mandates.
• Designing scalable structures that balance tradition with modern best practices.
• Connecting with experts including legal, tax, and operational specialists to build a tailored ecosystem.
• Providing ongoing support through our dedicated family office advisory team, offering insights on global trends, risk management, and talent acquisition.

As Middle Eastern families continue to evolve, the rise of SFOs reflects a broader shift toward institutional-grade wealth management – without losing sight of the cultural values that underpin trust and legacy.

Whether starting small or scaling up, the key lies in designing a wealth management structure that balances tradition with modern governance, ensuring resilience across generations.

Ranjit Khanna is the head of Private Banking Europe, Middle East and Global South Asia and chief executive, DIFC Branch, Bank of Singapore.

Bank of Singapore Limited’s branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is regulated by the DFSA.

The story of Web3 in the Gulf is often told through regulation, investment, and government programmes. But look a little closer and you’ll see that some of the region’s real progress isn’t unfolding in boardrooms. It’s happening in cafés, co-working spaces, and community hubs across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, and Bahrain. Places where builders, founders, investors, and the crypto curious gather to learn, debate, and experiment together.

These grassroots communities are becoming one of the Gulf’s most powerful catalysts for digital-asset adoption. What began as informal meetups has evolved into a movement that is shaping how the region understands, tests, and applies Web3 technologies in the real world.

Dubai as the beating heart

Dubai remains the region’s most active Web3 hub with an ever-full calendar of community gatherings across the city that cover everything from developer tutorials and security deep dives to open discussions about regulation and real-world use cases. On any given week, you’ll find crypto community meetups in DIFC, alongside major global events like Binance Blockchain Week.

What sets Dubai apart is the mix of people in the room: software engineers sitting alongside wealth managers, creators alongside corporate strategists. This diversity accelerates learning. The result is a city that doesn’t just talk about innovation, it practises it publicly, openly, and often.

Abu Dhabi as the institutional anchor

Abu Dhabi’s Web3 community reflects its institutional and regulatory strengths. Events hosted at Hub71 and ADGM’s innovation spaces tend to attract a different crowd: risk analysts, compliance specialists, treasury professionals, and founders exploring tokenisation or institutional-grade infrastructure.

Here, workshops focus on real-world deployment: how digital assets can streamline settlement, how tokenised portfolios could change practices, and how regulated environments build institutional trust. It’s a scene that is rooted in depth over volume, laying the foundations for long-term confidence.

Riyadh as the youth engine

Riyadh’s Web3 momentum is powered by the region’s youngest and most ambitious populations. The rise of community-led events at places like The Garage, MiSK, and university innovation centres has created an energetic pipeline of developers, designers, and product thinkers. Hackathons now attract hundreds, many experimenting with real-world use cases, digital identity, and supply-chain tracking that align with the kingdom’s digital transformation agenda.

Riyadh’s rapid growth is reshaping the regional talent map. It is becoming a place where ideas don’t just get discussed, they get built.

Bahrain as the fintech bridge

Meanwhile, Bahrain offers one of the Gulf’s most integrated Web3 and fintech communities. Regular meetups at Bahrain’s FinTech Bay and across the central Manama start-up corridor bring developers, bankers, compliance experts, and founders into close proximity. The result is a rare balance: technical creativity grounded in financial discipline.

Discussions often bridge blockchain innovation and regulated finance, ensuring that new ideas are anchored in practical application, not just technical enthusiasm.

Community power

Across the Gulf, a clear pattern is emerging: community events are reducing the barriers to entry. They demystify complex topics, encourage open dialogue, and create trust in an industry that has often struggled with it. For builders, they provide invaluable feedback loops to refine and create products that solve regional problems.