Al Safat acquires 60% stake in Orimix

Kuwait-based Al Safat Investments has acquired 60 per cent of the Fujairah-based Orimix, one of the leading concrete companies in the UAE, in an internal takeover.

Jose Yanbeiy, CEO of Orimix, told Emirates Business in an exclusive internveiw: "The move is part of Al Safat's plans to go international. Technically, the takeover is an internal affair where Al Safat has taken over 60 per cent of its shares in Unicorn. Hence, Orimix, which is part of the Unicorn Global Private Equity Fund I (part of Unicorn Investment Bank BSC) comes under the acquisition."

Orimix has six batching plants in three different locations. "We have plans to expand in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Egypt," said Yanbeiy. "Orimix has around 75 per cent of the market share in Fujairah and last year our sales turnover stood at above Dh2 billion."

Orimix has been supplying all types of ready mix concrete to projects such as Fujairah Airport, Le Meridian Aqqa Resort, Fujairah Water and Power station, Fujairah Port and a jetty for Vopak-Enoc.

"We hire our equipment out to vast projects and companies in the Emirates and overseas to Iran along with Hyundai Construction," said Yanbeiy. "In around two to three months, we will have finalised all the details and hold a new board meeting."

Al Safat Investment Company recently announced that its net profits for the first quarter of this year, increased by 162 per cent to 15 million Kuwaiti dinars (Dh207m) in comparison to the KWD5.74m it returned for the same term last year.

The company said in a statement it is proceeding to invest the capital appreciation amount to finance its expansion plans in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and also in East Asia. The company recently announced it had 60 million shares of Al Qudra Holding Company in Abu Dhabi, which equalled 10 per cent of the latter's equity.