December 02, 2008

Gulf Finance to create steel giant in the MENA Region

It is reported that Bahrain's Gulf Finance House GFHB.BH would set up a USD 5 billion steel firm with partners to help meet growing demand for construction materials in the region. HadeedMENA aims to plug the shortfall in domestic steel production in Middle East and North Africa.

Gulf Finance in a statement, without clarifying whether the production would take place at one or more plants, said that Hadeed MENA would have initial capacity of 8 million tonnes of steel per year for the next four years.

The project will deliver a capacity of 8 million tonnes of steel per annum in the next four years, and target to reach 12 million tonnes in the future, serving 15% of total regional needs and become one of the key steel producers in the MENA region.

HadeedMENA will operate in a number of locations across Asia and Africa, serving both upstream and downstream requirements in the marketplace. Upstream production will be located in countries rich in iron ore and coal, while downstream activity will focus on countries with exceptionally high demand across the GCC and MENA region.

Other partners in the venture are Emirates International Investment Co, Khaleej Development Co, Q-Invest and First Energy Bank. Leading technical partners and market advisors include MN Dastur and Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting.

Mr Esam Janahi chairman of Gulf Finance House said “We intend to differentiate ourselves by taking a top to bottom approach to the value chain. It will focus both on upstream productions for steel billets as well as the downstream manufacturing for steel re bars and structures. The company is currently in the final negotiation stages for a number of partnerships and acquisitions that we will be able to announce in the near future.”