Ask a Gulf founder who might one day buy their company and the answer is usually a local name. The data says otherwise: most of the money in Gulf M&A now crosses a border. Foreign corporates, global private equity, and the region’s own sovereign wealth funds are doing the buying — and a 2021 ownership reform quietly widened the pool of who legally can. This is the benchmark for the geography of GCC dealmaking: domestic versus inbound versus outbound, who the foreign buyers actually are, the sovereign-fund engine behind outbound, and what it all means if you’re selling, buying, or entering the region.
An honest note on the data
Unusually for a GCC benchmark, this one rests on real regional data rather than a US/global proxy. The domestic-versus-cross-border and inbound-versus-outbound splits, the UAE and Saudi shares, and the sovereign-fund deployment figures all come from primary, dated sources — EY’s MENA M&A Insights reports and Global SWF’s annual data. Where we are deliberately careful is the buyer mix by country: single mega-deals distort the annual value rankings, so we present the US and UK as the stable, recurring foreign-buyer pool and treat one-off value leaders as exactly that. Every figure is tied to its reporting period; nothing regional is estimated.
The geography: most of the money crosses a border
MENA M&A hit a record 884 deals worth US$106.1bn in 2025; the GCC alone was 685 deals / US$102.1bn — the GCC is the regional M&A market. Of that, cross-border deals were 54% of volume and 61% of value (up from 52% / 74% in 2024). The three-way split for 2025: domestic in the minority of dollars, inbound at 223 deals / US$25.4bn, and outbound the largest single slice.
The headline for a seller: inbound M&A more than doubled in value in a year, from US$11.4bn (2024) to US$25.4bn (2025). The pool of foreign buyers willing to acquire regional companies is widening fast — which is the entire structural argument for running a competitive process rather than negotiating with the first buyer who calls.
Who’s actually buying: the inbound foreign-buyer pool
The United States is the recurring core extra-regional acquirer — 48 inbound deals worth US$4.6bn in 2024 (EY MENA M&A Insights, FY2024) — with the UK the other consistent presence. Be wary of any fixed “top acquirer country” league table by value, though: single mega-deals distort it. In the first half of 2025, Austria topped inbound value at 77% on essentially one chemicals-sector transaction. So treat the US and UK as the repeatable buyer pool and one-off value leaders as noise.
And the destination is concentrated: the UAE drew 67% of all MENA inbound deal value in 2024 (96 deals / US$7.6bn), rising to 98% of inbound value in H1 2025. “Who buys companies in Dubai” increasingly answers itself — international acquirers, routed through the UAE.
Outbound & the sovereign-fund engine
The other half of the cross-border story is the Gulf buying abroad, and here the scale is global. The seven largest Gulf sovereign funds deployed a record US$119.1bn in 2025 — 43% of all capital invested by state-owned investors worldwide, up 43% year-on-year (Global SWF, via AGBI). PIF led at roughly US$36bn (a single buyout was about four-fifths of it); Mubadala followed at ~US$34bn. A year earlier, Mubadala was the single most active sovereign investor on earth — US$29.2bn across 52 deals in 2024 (Global SWF, via The National).
The favourite outbound destination is the United States — 41 deals worth US$19.9bn in 2024 — the mirror image of US buyers leading inbound. And a reminder that cuts against the “foreigners are buying us” reflex: the biggest buyers of Gulf companies are frequently other Gulf state vehicles — GRE and SWF buyers accounted for US$21bn across 54 transactions in H1 2025 alone.
The regulatory unlock: UAE 100% foreign ownership
None of the inbound widening happens without the legal change that enabled it. Effective 1 June 2021, the UAE’s Commercial Companies Law reform (Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2020) opened 1,065 business activities — about 40% of all economic activities — to full foreign ownership on the mainland and removed the prior 51% Emirati-majority requirement. Strategic-impact sectors (defence and security, banking and finance, insurance, telecoms, and a few others) remain restricted, so “100%” is broad but not universal.
It worked. Peer-reviewed analysis using Dubai business-licence data and a difference-in-differences design found a significant increase in new licences in the liberalised sectors after the rules took effect (Economic Research Forum) — the reform measurably widened the entrant and buyer pool, which is exactly why entry-by-acquisition without a local-majority partner is now viable.
What this means for founders and acquirers
For a seller, a deeper, more varied buyer pool — foreign corporates, global PE, and sovereign vehicles, with inbound value doubling in a year — is the case for a structured, buyer-mapped sale process that surfaces the full set of bidders and the competitive tension that moves the price a strategic versus a financial buyer will pay. For an acquirer or new entrant, the ownership reform plus record inbound flows make UAE entry-by-acquisition genuinely workable — which is the heart of market-entry & expansion advisory and buy-side acquisition support. If you’re a foreign founder weighing the region, the same data is the reason to be there. To weigh a sale against this backdrop, run the free exit-readiness scorecard.
Sources
EY MENA M&A Insights — FY2025, FY2024 and H1 2025 for the domestic/inbound/outbound splits, country shares, and GRE/SWF activity. Sovereign-fund deployment: Global SWF via AGBI (2025) and via The National (2024). UAE foreign-ownership reform and its measured effect: Economic Research Forum (effective 1 June 2021 under Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2020 amending the Commercial Companies Law). Country-level value rankings are noted as distorted by single mega-deals and read directionally rather than as fixed annual league tables.
Frequently asked questions
Who buys companies in the Gulf?
Increasingly, the world. Cross-border deals made up 54% of MENA M&A volume and 61% of value in 2025, so most of the money crosses a border rather than staying domestic. The recurring core of the foreign-buyer pool is the US and UK; the UAE is by far the most popular inbound target. And the largest buyers are often other Gulf state vehicles — sovereign wealth funds and government-related entities anchored US$21bn of deal value in the first half of 2025 alone.
How much of GCC M&A is cross-border vs domestic?
Most of the value is cross-border. In 2025, cross-border deals were 54% of MENA volume and 61% of value (52% and 74% in 2024). Inbound M&A — foreign buyers acquiring regional companies — more than doubled in value to US$25.4bn across 223 deals in 2025. Domestic-only deals are the minority of the dollars, which is the structural case for running a competitive, buyer-mapped sale process rather than a bilateral one.
Did the UAE 100% foreign-ownership reform change who can buy?
Yes, materially. Effective 1 June 2021, the reform opened 1,065 business activities — roughly 40% of all economic activities — to full foreign ownership on the mainland and removed the prior requirement for a 51% Emirati-majority partner (strategic sectors like defence, banking and telecoms remain restricted). Peer-reviewed research found a significant rise in new business licences in the liberalised sectors afterwards — the reform measurably widened the entrant and buyer pool.
Where does Gulf outbound capital go?
Abroad, and at record scale. The seven largest Gulf sovereign funds deployed US$119.1bn in 2025 — 43% of all capital invested by state-owned investors globally, up 43% year-on-year, led by PIF (~US$36bn) and Mubadala (~US$34bn). The United States is the favourite destination: it drew 41 outbound MENA deals worth US$19.9bn in 2024, the mirror image of US buyers being the top inbound acquirers.