Business | Markets
Zamil to invest $80m to expand operations
Zamil Industrial Investment Co, listed on the Saudi stock exchange, will spend more than 300 million Saudi riyals ($80 million) to expand its business in pre-fabricated steel buildings in the UAE, Egypt and Asia.
- By Ivan Gale, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 July 16, 2006
Dubai: Zamil Industrial Investment Co, listed on the Saudi stock exchange, will spend more than 300 million Saudi riyals ($80 million) to expand its business in pre-fabricated steel buildings in the UAE, Egypt and Asia.
Pre-engineered buildings (PEBs) are metal structures used for factories, aircraft hangars, malls and showrooms. Karel Costenoble, general manager of Mesteel.com, said around seven operators produce around 200,000 tonnes of pre-made steel buildings per year in the UAE, with Zamil being the largest.
Adnan Al Mansour, senior executive vice-president of Zamil, puts the value of the overall GCC market at $1 billion, or 500,000 tonnes of steel buildings produced yearly. His company is expanding due to the local construction boom driven by oil receipts, he told Gulf News.
Zamil's upcoming factory in Ras Al Khaimah will begin with a production capacity of 30,000 tonnes, with plans to ramp up output in the future, Mansour said. The plant, which will erect PEBs as well as electrical transmission towers, will cost the company 90 million riyals ($24 million).
"The growth we've seen in the last two years has been tremendous, more than 15 per cent per year," Mansour said. Once the RAK facility is complete later this year, and counting a recent expansion in Saudi Arabia, Zamil will have nearly doubled production in the Gulf, from 80,000 tonnes to 140,000 tonnes per year.
Other projects are also on the anvil for Zamil. In Abu Dhabi, Zamil plans to build a structured steel plant to produce components for refineries. In China, Mansour said the company is considering plans to build satellite plants.
The company is also expanding in Egypt and building new factories in India.
More from Markets
More from Business
Business Editor's choice
-
‘Wrong Way' Krugman
The source of our economic malfunction lies with government-mandated bank regulations
-
Greek exit could make Eurozone stronger
Departure will show limits of bailouts and allow remaining members to act much more like a unit
-
UAE upholds values of free trade
Recently released statistics confirm an established fact, namely that of the UAE embracing the free trade principle in general and imports in particular
