The Inside Brief

Apollo Global Management has snapped up a 10 per cent stake in Mubadala Capital, investing slightly more than $1 billion to help the Abu Dhabi asset manager grow in North America. For Marc Rowan, co-founder and chief executive of Apollo, which manages more than $1 trillion in assets, the deal is part of a strategy of backing like-minded asset managers, even those that compete with his own firm. In this exclusive interview for The Inside Brief, recorded in Abu Dhabi on the day the deal was announced, Mr Rowan speaks to Manus Cranny about the partnership and why he describes the competition between the two firms as healthy. Mr Rowan also explains why, despite the conflict in the region, he believes the Gulf carries less risk today than it did a year ago. He sets out why Apollo plans to increase its investment in the UAE as the region prepares to spend $1 trillion hardening its infrastructure and building alternative routes. He discusses Anthropic’s planned $2 trillion initial public offering, why passive investing has changed how the largest listings are priced, and how he expects a significant AI-related event to eventually prompt regulation. The conversation also turns to the credit case for AI, from chip financing to the record borrowing by hyper scalers, and why Mr Rowan worries most about short-term political decision-making in the US. He reflects on whether AI is a bubble, and why both Blackstone’s Jon Gray and Citadel’s Ken Griffin can be right. The Inside Brief with Manus Cranny is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major platforms.

The war in the Middle East is putting the global aviation industry under unprecedented pressure. Flight schedules have become unpredictable, fuel costs have soared and ticket prices have risen sharply. Yet demand for air travel remains strong, with a record five billion passengers expected to fly this year. For Hassan El-Houry, chief executive officer of Menzies Aviation, one of the world's largest aviation services companies, the challenge is keeping operations running across 365 airports in 65 countries while airlines face a sharp squeeze on profitability. In this episode of The Inside Brief, Manus Cranny speaks to Mr El-Houry about the impact of the conflict on global aviation and why he expects the industry to recover quickly once stability returns. Mr El-Houry also discusses the company's ambitious expansion plans in the Middle East, particularly the UAE, following its acquisition of American aviation services company G2 Secure Staff. He explains why Menzies is determined to compete in the region, whether an IPO is on the table, and why delays to Heathrow's third runway risk weakening Britain's position as a global aviation hub. The conversation also turns to Mr El-Houry's remarkable journey from becoming a refugee during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait to leading a global business. He reflects on the lessons he learnt from military service, becoming a chief executive at just 28, and why human connection and critical thinking remain indispensable in the age of AI. The Inside Brief with Manus Cranny is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major platforms.

Mike Pompeo is the only person in American history to have served as both CIA director and secretary of state. A West Point graduate who finished first in his class, a Harvard Law Review editor and a former manufacturing entrepreneur, he served under US President Donald Trump and was one of the architects of the Abraham Accords. His memoir is titled Never Give an Inch. Speaking to Manus Cranny in New York, days after attending Senator Lindsey Graham's funeral in Washington, where Benjamin Netanyahu also met with Mr Trump, Mr Pompeo does not characterise the conflict as a Middle East war. He calls it a global one, tying Iran, China and Russia into a single axis. On this episode of The Inside Brief, Mr Pompeo explains why he believes the Gulf states will ultimately join the US in delivering a decisive blow to Iran's military capabilities, why economic pressure is already visibly degrading life inside Iran, even if the outside world cannot see it, and what a realistic roadmap to ending the conflict looks like. Mr Pompeo also addresses the Netanyahu-Trump relationship, the prospect of regime change in Iran, the Abraham Accords as a model for post-war Gulf unity, and whether a two-state solution is remotely realistic today. He closes with what he considers the single greatest risk beyond the Gulf: Western civilisation losing confidence in itself. The Inside Brief with Manus Cranny is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major platforms.

Mohammed Alardhi joined the Royal Air Force of Oman as a cadet in 1978, trained as a fighter pilot at RAF Cranwell and rose to command the entire Omani Air Force with the rank of Air Vice Marshal, before leaving for Harvard. He is now executive chairman of Investcorp. The alternative asset manager founded in 1982 made its name buying and selling Tiffany and Gucci, and has since grown from $10 billion to $63 billion in assets under management under his leadership.   In this episode of The Inside Brief, Manus Cranny sits down with Mr Alardhi at Investcorp's headquarters in London's Mayfair to discuss how the firm has navigated months of regional conflict without a material impact on capital flows, why he believes anyone who has bet against the Gulf in the past 50 years has lost, and where the next alpha lies as Investcorp targets $100 billion in assets under management. They also discuss the $2 trillion in AI commitments between the Gulf and the US, whether markets are heading for a bubble, how Investcorp is deploying AI across its business, and why the firm continues to see opportunity in the UK despite its political turbulence. Mr Alardhi also reflects on the lessons fighter pilots and investment professionals share, and what conviction, calculated risk and trusting your team mean when the stakes are high. The Inside Brief with Manus Cranny is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major platforms.

The International Energy Agency was founded in 1974, in the wake of the Arab oil embargo, with a clear mandate: co-ordinate emergency stock releases in a crisis. In 2026, that mandate has been tested like never before. On March 11, the IEA authorised the release of 400 million barrels of oil, the largest co-ordinated stock release in the agency's history, after the Strait of Hormuz closure sent the global energy market into its worst crisis in half a century. In this episode of The Inside Brief, Manus Cranny sits down with IEA executive director Fatih Birol at the agency's headquarters in Paris. They discuss whether Saudi Arabia and the UAE can fully rebuild their reputations as reliable exporters and why Asian buyers are already diversifying away from Gulf supply regardless of whether the strait fully reopens. By Mr Birol's own measure, the world has lost more barrels from this crisis than the 1973 and 1979 oil shocks combined. Mr Birol also addresses oil price trajectory and the conditions required for a return to prewar export levels, what Iran's barrels can realistically add to global supply, the UAE's decision to leave Opec and what it means for the cartel's future, and how the IEA is navigating the Trump administration's energy dominance doctrine while expanding its membership to Nigeria, Brazil and India. “The vase is broken,” Birol says. “The Strait of Hormuz is closed once, and it can be closed again. It is now in everybody's mind.” The Inside Brief with Manus Cranny is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major platforms.

Next month marks a turning point for the UAE's space industry. Abu Dhabi-based satellite company Orbitworks will ship Altair-1, the first satellite designed and built in the country for commercial export, to California to launch. Leading that effort is Dr Hamdullah Mohib, acting chief executive of Orbitworks. His path to the role is unlike almost any other in the industry. An engineer by training, he was Afghanistan's ambassador to Washington during the administration of former US president Barack Obama before becoming national security adviser to former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, a role that placed him at the centre of some of the most consequential moments in his country's recent history.   On this episode of The Inside Brief, Dr Mohib joins Manus to discuss what the Orbitworks milestone represents for the UAE's ambition to become a commercial exporter of space technology, why it chose an exclusively US and European technology stack, what the SpaceX IPO - at a valuation of $1.77 trillion - means for the broader sector, and how a constellation of 10 satellites equipped with Nvidia chips could change the way industries, from oil and gas to insurance, interact with Earth observation data. He also talks about his youth as a refugee in Pakistan, the negotiation lessons he learned at his father's table, and what resilience looks like for someone who has spent a lifetime choosing to put fear aside and seize opportunities as they arise. The Inside Brief with Manus Cranny is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major platforms.

When the US-Iran conflict was at its peak, most developers were waiting, but Mahdi Amjad was accelerating. The founder and executive chairman of Omniyat Group, which encompasses the UAE's leading ultra-luxury developer Omniyat, sat down with Manus Cranny on location at The Opus building in Dubai Business Bay for a conversation about building through conflict, the numbers behind his confidence, and why he believes this moment is the greatest opportunity the UAE has offered. Mr Amjad reveals that despite a short-term reduction in sales since the war began, all Omniyat's projects remain in full construction, fully funded to completion. He also announces that Omniyat Group's total portfolio has already surpassed Dh120 billion, having set a five-year target of Dh100 billion just two years ago. The new target is more than Dh200 billion by 2030. In the conversation, Mr Amjad also reflects on his 35 years in the UAE, the lessons he learnt from a decade working with the late Zaha Hadid on Opus, how he redesigned the building mid-crisis during the 2008 financial crash, and why he exited his entire London portfolio in 2003 to bet on Dubai. On AI, Mr Amjad reveals Omniyat Group has set up a dedicated transformation division and is on track to invest more than $100 million in AI, which he calls one of the best investments he has made.

Billionaire John Caudwell built Phones4u into one of Britain's biggest mobile phone retailers before selling it for almost £1.5 billion in 2006. He has since committed to giving 70 per cent of his wealth to charity. In a special edition of The Inside Brief recorded at his estate in the South of France, Mr Caudwell speaks to Manus Cranny with characteristic directness about British politics, the economy, AI and what drives him. Mr Caudwell says he switched his support to Labour before the 2024 general election for two reasons: the Conservatives had made a hash of things for so long that he had lost confidence in them, and Labour was pushing hard on GDP growth and support for business. He had meetings with Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, but failed to influence them. The two Labour budgets since, he argues, have been business-unfriendly and counterproductive. Soaking the rich, he says, ultimately drags the economy down and makes the poor worse off in the long term, because the wealth needed to fund public services is not being created. On Andy Burnham, the man tipped to succeed Mr Starmer as prime minister, Mr Caudwell warns against further instability and the risk of a bigger shift to the left. On Nigel Farage and Reform, currently ahead in the polls, he agrees with much of their economic thinking but says he cannot support a party he regards as climate sceptic, and one he fears could bring the kind of divisiveness he associates with the current US administration. On AI, Mr Caudwell says it is both terrifying and exciting. He uses ChatGPT, argues with it and says he always wins. But he warns of a tsunami of young unemployed people as AI replaces jobs, and he worries about a generation growing up unable to tell what is real from what is fabricated. On wealth creation, his advice to the next generation is straightforward: it has to be internet-based, it has to have a worldwide application, and you need ambition, drive, passion, resilience, commercial intellect and, if you want to build at scale, leadership. The conversation was recorded at Domaine de la Belle Etoile, the estate surrounding Le Provencal, the French Riviera hotel Mr Caudwell bought in 2014 and has spent more than a decade restoring. Apartments at the former hotel are priced from £4 million to £40 million.

In this special episode of The Inside Brief with Manus Cranny, former US National Security Agency chief Tim Haugh joins us in London to talk about the cyber dimensions of the Iran war and regional escalation, including an attack on the UAE's nuclear power plant. Mr Haugh argues that the US is seeking conditions for a political settlement focused on freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the removal of enriched uranium from Iran, while Tehran aims to apply pressure through attacks on regional infrastructure. He says meaningful pressure would likely require Islamic Revolutionary guard Corps-focused targets, though few may compel compromise. After US President Donald Trump’s Beijing visit, Mr Haugh says the level of Chinese support for Iran remains unclear. He also says Iran’s capacity has likely degraded and resembles criminal opportunism, while artificial intelligence is accelerating the discovery of vulnerabilities and driving investment needs, alongside new physical defence priorities for data centres.

Bond markets are sending signals that politicians are struggling to read. Former Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King joins The Inside Brief with Manus Cranny from London to make sense of them, drawing on a 22-year career at the institution and a decade as governor during some of the most turbulent periods in modern financial history. On the current state of UK gilt markets and rising long-term yields, Mr King argues that a 10-year bond yield of 5 per cent is not unusual in itself. What concerns him more is the deep political reluctance across major economies to put public debt on a sustainable path. The choice, he says, is straightforward: either cut spending or raise taxes. On the oil shock, Mr King warns that the impact on inflation will be very different depending on whether the Middle East conflict lasts weeks, months or longer, and that central banks cannot yet know how much of it they can afford to look through. He draws on his own experience at the Bank of England after the financial crisis, when the institution looked through the biggest devaluation of sterling since the Second World War, and explains the conditions under which those judgments on interest rates were made. In the conversation, Mr King also reflects on the City of London, the closeness of relationships between the world's major central banks, and the charity he cofounded in 2005, Chance to Shine, which has brought cricket into state schools and reached eight million children.