News in brief
01 January 2021
Arabtec intends to go ahead with its liquidation plan
Leading Dubai-based contractor Arabtec Holding said it will go ahead with its plans to file application for insolvent liquidation in the competent courts ‘at the earliest opportunity’ due to its untenable financial position following the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
In accordance with the resolution of the company’s shareholders at the General Assembly Meeting held on September 30, the conclusion was reached following a two-month period of discussions with key stakeholders, said the Dubai contractor.
Arabtec Holding’s board of directors has concluded that it is no longer tenable for the company to continue operating outside of a formal insolvency process and that it is in the best interests of its stakeholders for an early insolvent liquidation. Owing to inter-dependencies of certain subsidiaries of Arabtec, the application to the competent courts will also request that Arabtec Construction, Arabtec Constructions, Austrian Arabian Readymix Concrete Company and Arabtec Precast (collectively the Impacted Companies) will also be placed into insolvent liquidation simultaneously, it stated.
For now, no application will be made to the competent courts in respect of any of the company’s other subsidiaries, said the company.
Until such time when an insolvency trustee is appointed, Arabtec Holding intends to continue engaging with key stakeholders to explore options to preserve value and where possible to avoid such subsidiaries needing to be placed into a formal insolvency process, it added.
Sterling and Wilson wins Acwa’s Egypt solar project
Saudi-based Acwa Power says it has reached an agreement with Sterling and Wilson Solar, a unit of leading Indian construction group Shapoorji Pallonji and one of the largest solar EPC solutions providers, to start construction work on its 200 MW Kom Ombo solar plant in Egypt instead of Mahindra.
Acwa Power had originally agreed with Mahindra on the project, but the latter pulled out due to its fear of working outside India as the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic continues, reported Daily News Egypt.
Located in the governorate of Aswan, the plant is already connected to the grid via a substation. The facility occupies an area of 500,000 sq m and on completion will have a production capacity of 26 MWp.
Senaat wins NMDC investors’ nod for NPCC merger
Abu Dhabi’s General Holding Corporation (Senaat) has announced that it has won approval from the shareholders of National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC) for merger with top Emirati engineering and construction group, National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC).
The NMDC shareholders voted to approve their offer to combine NPCC with the dredging firm.
The proposed transaction would create a new national and regional integrated EPC champion with an established footprint in key markets within Middle East and North Africa (Mena )and South Asia.
The combined group would be one of the largest integrated oil and gas and marine services EPC players in the region with integrated 2019 revenue of Dh8.875 billion ($2.41 billion), saysSenaat.
Once the transaction gets completed, Senaat, which is part of ADQ, and other minority shareholders of NPCC will be transfering NPCC to NMDC.
Senaat and other minority shareholders of NPCC will transfer the entire issued share capital of NPCC to NMDC. In consideration for the transfer of NPCC, NMDC would issue to Senaat and other minority shareholders of NPCC an instrument, convertible into 575 million ordinary shares in NMDC upon closing of the transaction.
Siemens consortium lands Suez Canal tunnels work
Siemens says its consortium has been awarded a contract by the Egyptian government to provide the command control and communication systems for Ahmed Hamdy Tunnel 2, a transportation link beneath the Suez Canal that will ease movement between cities in the South of Sinai and the rest of the country.
The two-lane Ahmed Hamdy Tunnel 2 is 4.25-km long and 11 m in diameter. The project, which is expected to be completed within a year, is part of a broader plan to spur economic development in the Sinai Peninsula and fits into Egypt’s ambition to transform its road and traffic network into a smart digital system. The agreement was signed in Cairo by UDT, which is responsible for the project’s technology solutions, and Siemens and Deutschland Technology, which will provide the equipment and systems.
Siemens’ digital technologies will ensure safe and efficient transit of vehicles through the tunnel by providing command control, ventilation, traffic control, communication, fire alarm and linear heat detection systems, as well the Scada systems.
