What was changed
Abu Dhabi and Dubai had built serious aluminium assets separately: DUBAL in Jebel Ali and EMAL in Taweelah. The strategic question was whether the UAE should keep two strong smelters or combine them into one global industrial company.
In 2013 Mubadala and Investment Corporation of Dubai agreed to create Emirates Global Aluminium as a jointly held, equal-ownership company. The new group unified the smelter assets and upstream interests, with plans to expand into alumina refining and bauxite mining.
The combination created a company expected to become the fifth-largest aluminium producer by production after EMAL Phase II. It had more than $15bn of enterprise value and planned capacity of 2.4m tonnes per year.
What it achieved
EGA was launched with over $15bn enterprise value, 2.4m tonnes of planned capacity, and more than 440 customers in 55 countries.
Why it worked
Combining DUBAL and EMAL gave the UAE a single industrial export champion.
The merger let the owners coordinate smelting, alumina, and mining investments across the value chain.
Leadership was drawn from both predecessor companies, reducing the risk of a purely financial merger.
What can be applied
A sovereign-backed merger can turn adjacent national assets into an export platform when it creates operating scale, not just a larger holding company.
Aftermath
EGA became the UAE's non-oil industrial flagship. The merger gave the aluminium sector a single global face, with scale large enough to support downstream manufacturing, international customers, and upstream resource moves beyond the Gulf.
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