Saudi firm has $7.2b deals and plans to expand into Bahrain and Oman

Dead Sea, Jordan: Saudi Arabian construction company Saudi Oger said on Saturday it had $7.2 billion (Dh26.4 billion) in building contracts under execution and planned to expand into Bahrain and Oman to diversify its revenues.

Ali Kholaghassi, vice-president of privately held Oger, said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum that investors and homebuyers were still in "sit and wait" mode, although banks had started to resume lending.

Confidence would return once wealth funds and private equity return to the market, said Kholaghassi, who is banking on new business resulting from Gulf governments' plans to keep public spending expansionary during the downturn.

"Today it's a question of how desperate a person wants to sell and how eager a person is to buy," Kholaghassi said.

"Is it the bottom?... You have a few days of green and then decline, so there is much confidence building needed."

Oger, a diversified holding group with operations in telecommunications, utilities and real estate, is controlled by the family of late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al Hariri.

The company has about Dh12 billion of projects under execution in the UAE, $1.3 billion in Jordan and 10 billion riyals (Dh9.8 billion) in Saudi Arabia, he said.

"We are working to expand into Bahrain and Oman in the next 18 to 24 months," Kholaghassi said. Oger stands to benefit from a Saudi pledge late last year to invest $400 billion over the next five years to build infrastructure in the world's top oil exporter.

"We are looking at transportation projects, two airports and we are building universities," Kholaghassi said.

Kholaghassi, who is also chief executive of Saraya Holding, added that the Jordanian-based company was holding off on plans to sell shares to the public and list on the NASDAQ Dubai stock exchange until market conditions improved. Saraya would later seek to raise cash through a private placement or tap debt markets, he said.

Deutsche Bank had been advising on the deal, although it had yet to value the company.