Emirates Cement to set up new plant in Fujairah

Abu Dhabi: The Emirates Cement Factory, owned by Abu Dhabi's General Holding Company, yesterday announced it is setting up a new plant in Fujairah.

The new unit, Arkan Building Materials Company, will be capitalised at Dh1.75 billion of which Dh857.5 million would be raised through an initial public offering (IPO).

An agreement was signed yesterday by Salem Bin Mohammad Al Daheri, Under Secretary, Department of Planning and Economy, Abu Dhabi, and Dr Fang Fang, Board Member of China National Building Materials Company. The Chinese company won the contract to build the factory whose annual production is pegged at 3.1 million tonnes.

"The construction of the project would start shortly and can be considered as an extension of Abu Dhabi's Emirates Cement Factory," said Al Daheri.

The assets of Emirates Cement Factory would be transferred to Arkan Building Materials Company along with the assets of blocks factories in Al Ain and Al Wathba, he added.

Arkan is being set up as a public joint stock company and the capital raising process would begin as soon as the legal formalities of setting up the company are completed.

The shares would be offered at Dh1 per share plus 2.5 fils as issuance cost per share. Accordingly, the company would then be owned 51 per cent by GHC and 49 per cent by the public shareholders.