ACC wins hotel refit contract in Cairo

Arabian Construction Co (ACC), has won a $90 million (Dh330.3 million) contract to convert the Nile Hilton in Cairo to the Nile Ritz-Carlton hotel.

"The renovation project includes interior finishing and mechanical, electrical and plumbing scheduled to be completed in 18 months," ACC said in an emailed statement. Built in 1959, the 370-room Nile Hilton is undergoing extensive renovation of its facilities in order to re-emerge as a full-fledged Ritz-Carlton. The project will include modernising the 13-storey hotel, owned by Misr Hotels, a subsidiary of The Holding Company for Tourism, Hotels and Cinema. ACC said it will be responsible for the interior cladding and finishing of all facilities, rooms and the hotel casino. US-based Hill International is the project manager.

Kuwait Gulf Oil

Kuwait Gulf Oil Co (KGOC) signed a contract with France's Technip to build gas facilities in Khafji, part of a plan to boost gas output for growing domestic needs, industry sources told Reuters yesterday. KGOC, a unit of Kuwait Petroleum Corp, operates in the Neutral Zone shared by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia through the Al Khafji Joint Operations Co with Aramco Gulf Operations, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco. The signing took place this week, the sources said, after the contract was awarded to the French firm on January 17 to build gas and natural gas liquids facilities in Al Khafji, which will carry 40 million standard cubic feet per day of gas via pipeline to Kuwait. The contract value was not immediately available but one source said Technip offered a highly competitive bid. Kuwait, in gas-deficit, plans to nearly quadruple its gas output to more than 4 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) by 2030, which will include 500 million cfd from Dorra, which it shares with Saudi Arabia.

Etisalat

Emirates Telecommunications Corp., or etisalat, is looking to sell the mobile phone towers it owns in Africa, a process that could raise up to $600 million, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Etisalat has hired Standard Chartered to give advice on the process, one person close to the matter said. Another person familiar with the matter said that etisalat is planning to sell about 4,000-5,000 towers and expects to generate around $500 million to $600 million. Etisalat declined to comment.

Ma'aden

Saudi Arabian Mining Co., the state-controlled company known as Ma'aden, said it started commercial operations yesterday to produce diammonium phosphate at its Ras Al Khair plant.

The phosphate project is now fully in commercial operation and the plant will gradually increase output to its designed capacity of 3 million tonnes a year, the company said in a statement to the Saudi bourse yesterday.

El Sewedy Electric

El Sewedy Electric Co., Egypt's biggest publicly traded manufacturer of electric cables, said a workers' strike over wages at its factories on the outskirts of Cairo won't affect business in the near-term. The company has excess capacity to offset the stoppage in the long term and is "optimistic" about resolving the strike, it said in a filing to the Egyptian bourse yesterday. El Sewedy won't negotiate pay increases implemented this year, it said.

Paints & Chemical

Paints & Chemical Industries Co., Egypt's biggest publicly traded paints producer, said its six-month profit dropped 41 per cent. Net income for the period that ended December 31 was 55.3 million Egyptian pounds compared with 93.5 million pounds a year earlier, the Cairo-based company said yesterday.

ABB

Electrical engineering company ABB Ltd yesterday said it has won orders worth more than $250 million from the Saudi Electricity Company to construct new substations and reinforce existing ones in the country to address growing electricity demand.

— Compiled from staff reports and agencies