A consortium led by The National Investor, one of the leading UAE investment and merchant banks, has bought a 15 per cent stake in Depa Interiors, one of the Middle East's leading hotel interiors contracting companies, for an undisclosed amount.
Dr Karim El Solh, CEO of The National Investor, said the company which eyes more than $100 million worth of projects in the Gulf's petroleum sector, is also in the process of finalising two large initial public offerings, to raise Dh2 billion from the market during October and November.
"These Abu Dhabi-based companies are from the logistics and real estate sectors," Dr Karim said.
A statement from The National Investor said the acquisition covered five companies under the Depa umbrella three from the UAE, one from Italy, and another from the UK.
While The National Investor led the origination and structuring of the transaction, Deloitte & Touche led the accounting due diligence, and Al Tamimi & Company acted as the legal advisers for the transaction.
Commenting on the development, Abdullah Al Mazroui, chairman of The National Investor, said: "In line with our strategy to identify solid companies with strong growth potential, Depa represents an excellent investment that will allow us to capitalise on the expected boom of hotel developments in the UAE and the region.
"Conservative estimates project hotel rooms to increase from 15,000 to 75,000 rooms in the next three to five years in the UAE alone and Depa is ideally positioned to benefit from this trend."
Dr Karim El Solh said, as a leading regional private equity player, his company is continuously looking for solid companies with good profitability and a strong management team in high growth sectors.
"Depa suits all of these criteria and is the best positioned player in the hotel industry to benefit from the expected surge in activities," Dr Karim said.
In its 30 years of operation, Depa has distinguished itself as one of the leading hotel, yacht and palace interior companies in the world.
