Full-service M&A advisory for Dubai businesses across mainland, DIFC, and all major free zones. Sell-side mandates, buy-side acquisitions, financial due diligence, fundraising, and exit planning. Every engagement led by our senior CFA, CA and ACCA qualified team with 15+ years of Big 4 M&A experience. Fees agreed upfront.
M&A advisory in Dubai covers the full range of services for buying or selling a business, independent business valuation, sell-side mandate management, buy-side advisory, financial due diligence, fundraising, and exit planning. Corvian Advisory provides CFA-led M&A advisory for Dubai mid-market transactions from AED 5M, across mainland Dubai, DIFC, JAFZA, DMCC, Dubai Silicon Oasis, and all major free zones. Fees agreed upfront.
Whether you are selling a Dubai business, acquiring a target in a free zone or on mainland, or planning your exit from a DIFC-regulated entity, we manage the complete process, senior-led, from start to close.
We manage the complete sale process, mainland businesses, DIFC entities, free zone companies. UAE CT position and free zone qualifying income status built into pre-sale preparation.
We represent buyers acquiring Dubai businesses, GCC investors, international acquirers using DIFC as a base, and PE funds executing Dubai-focused strategies.
Independent FDD identifying sustainable EBITDA, normalised for UAE CT (9% mainland; 0% qualifying free zone income). Delivered in 3–4 weeks.
Strategic pre-sale advisory mapping regulatory requirements, holding structure options, and cross-border M&A mechanics before going to market.
Fundraising advisory for Dubai businesses seeking growth capital from GCC family offices, DIFC-based PE funds, and international investors.
Structured exit planning 12–36 months ahead, the single highest-return investment a Dubai business owner can make before going to market.
Dubai is the GCC's primary deal hub, the city where most regional M&A conversations begin. That creates significant opportunity, but also a more complex environment: three distinct legal jurisdictions (mainland, DIFC, and other free zones), UAE Corporate Tax with free zone qualifying income rules, SCA regulatory thresholds, and DFSA requirements for DIFC entities.
Corvian Advisory handles every layer of that complexity, backed by direct relationships with the GCC family offices, DIFC-based PE funds, and international strategic groups that drive Dubai's M&A market.
"Dubai is the GCC's primary M&A hub. That means more buyers, deeper markets, and a more complex regulatory and tax environment that requires specialist advisory to navigate correctly."
UAE Corporate Tax (9% mainland; 0% qualifying free zone income) is the most important new variable in Dubai M&A. We model qualifying income eligibility, leakage risk, and deal structure implications.
We advise across mainland Dubai (DED), DIFC (DFSA-regulated), and all major free zones. Each has different M&A mechanics, regulatory approvals, and deal structure implications.
Established relationships with GCC family offices, international strategic acquirers, and DIFC-based PE funds actively looking for mid-market Dubai acquisitions.
Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan creates M&A opportunities across urban planning, sustainability, and technology, we understand the buyer-facing strategic context.
Structured 12–36 month exit planning programmes addressing corporate structure, financial normalisation, UAE CT optimisation, and buyer-facing narrative.
Our senior team works directly on every Dubai mandate from day one to close, with no delegation to juniors.
Dubai is the GCC's most active M&A market by transaction count, open FDI framework, DIFC legal infrastructure, and connectivity to GCC, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Dubai's M&A market in 2025–2026 is characterised by three drivers: the tourism and hospitality rebound tied to Dubai 2040's target of 5.8 million residents and 25 million visitors annually; a thriving technology/fintech ecosystem centred on DIFC's FinTech Hive and Dubai Internet City; and UAE Corporate Tax (introduced June 2023 at 9%), which has prompted a wave of restructuring activity as businesses review mainland-versus-free-zone structures.
| Sector | EV/EBITDA |
|---|---|
| Technology & Fintech | 12–25x |
| Healthcare & Medical | 9–16x |
| Logistics & Supply Chain | 7–12x |
| Hospitality & Tourism | 7–13x |
| Retail & Consumer | 6–11x |
| Professional Services | 6–10x |
| Education & EdTech | 8–14x |
| Real Estate Services | 5–9x |
Business valuation is a separate discipline from M&A advisory. Our dedicated Dubai Business Valuation page covers the full range of independent valuation services with local currency pricing and Dubai regulatory context.
CFA-led, IVS-compliant business valuations for Dubai companies. Fixed-fee. Delivered in 5–10 business days.
IVS-compliant valuation, UAE CT position, free zone qualifying income status, optimal deal structure.
CIM, management presentation, data room with UAE CT-normalised EBITDA.
Confidential outreach to 15–25 qualified buyers under NDA.
Manage buyer FDD, negotiate heads of terms including regulatory timetable.
SPA execution, regulatory approvals, licence transfer, transaction close.
The person who scopes your deal is the person who closes it. At most Big 4 practices a partner signs the engagement letter and a junior team runs the process. Every Corvian mandate is led hands-on by a CFA Charterholder from the first call through signing.
Fees are agreed upfront, in writing, before work begins. No hourly billing and no scope creep — the fixed-scope proposal you sign is the fee you pay, unlike advisory models priced to a number of hours worked.
We work across free zone and mainland in the same mandate. DIFC, JAFZA, DMCC, Dubai Silicon Oasis, mainland DED – most brokers know one licensing regime well. Dubai deals routinely cross those lines, so we structure across all of them as standard.
Built for AED 5M–500M deals, not scaled down from large-cap. Big 4 M&A teams are built around large-cap mandates, so mid-market clients get a de-prioritised process. Ours is sized for the mid-market from day one.
A JAFZA-licensed logistics operator engaged us to run a full sell-side process. Pre-sale, we normalised EBITDA for one-off freight surcharges and related-party lease terms, which materially changed the credible valuation range before any buyer saw the numbers.
Eighteen qualified parties were approached under NDA; three progressed to term sheets. The transaction closed above the original indicative range, with the buyer's own diligence confirming our normalised EBITDA figure without adjustment. Specific commercial terms are withheld under the terms of our confidentiality agreement with the client.
Buy-side FDD on a DIFC-regulated fintech target uncovered EBITDA adjustments that supported a renegotiated purchase price ahead of signing. Figures withheld per the engagement's NDA terms.
An 18-month exit readiness programme for a mainland F&B group, addressing UAE CT optimisation and key-person risk ahead of a trade sale. Presented at a level consistent with our confidentiality commitments.
"We had a DMCC-incorporated logistics business and needed to sell quickly when a strategic opportunity arose. Corvian handled the entire process, they built the data room, ran a competitive process with five UAE and GCC buyers, and got us 30% above our initial valuation expectation. The UAE CT analysis in their FDD was the most thorough we had seen."
"As a GCC family office acquiring a Dubai healthcare business, we needed FDD that correctly handled the UAE CT position and DIFC regulatory nuances. Corvian's QoE report was exactly what we needed. They identified a free zone qualifying income issue that had been missed and restructured the deal accordingly. Exceptional expertise."
"We engaged Corvian two years before our exit. They did an initial valuation, helped us restructure from mainland to a DIFC holdco structure, identified UAE CT planning opportunities, and then ran the sale process. The exit multiple was materially above what we would have achieved without the exit planning work. Worth every dirham."
Whether you are selling, acquiring, or planning your exit, we respond within 24 hours.