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Syed Basr Shuaib, chief executive of International Holdings in Abu Dhabi, told Reuters it expects to increase its acquisition activity as global market turmoil creates a “buyer’s market”, including in India and Turkey.

The international holding company, which has a market capitalization of about $167 billion on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange, is targeting companies listed in growth markets and is also looking at South America and Indonesia, he added.

“The common stock market has already corrected itself in some assets,” he said.

“But in the private sector, it’s still difficult to negotiate with owners because they’re all still living in a year-old world where valuations were so high. It’s not a sellers’ market, it’s a buyers’ market now.

The group, which operates in sectors as diverse as healthcare, real estate, information technology and utilities, has made 70 acquisitions this year worth a total of 10 billion dirhams ($2.72 billion).

The company’s notable deals include investing AED 7.3 billion in three Gautam Adani companies in India in May.

Rising interest rates and expectations of a global recession made the company more selective, Shuaib said, because valuations in the private markets did not reflect current market conditions.

The company is seeking large acquisitions, not small deals, to boost its overall profits, but he did not specify the size of those operations.

On Monday, the company announced that its net profit for the first half of the year rose 137 percent year-on-year to 10.35 billion dirhams.

The company’s stock has risen more than 120% since the start of the year, trading at Dh348 per share.

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