Drake & Scull to set up Dh10m-20m civil division

Drake & Scull International (DSI) is setting up a new company – Drake & Scull Construction – to represent the firm's civil division outside the UAE.

The company, which will be registered in Dubai, will have an initial paid up capital of about Dh10 million to Dh20m, while its Saudi unit figure stands at Dh10m in Saudi Arabia, its CEO told Emirates Business in an exclusive interview, and added DSI has "not yet finalised these figures".

"We started discussions seven months ago and it has come to fruition after the board approval, following which we have agreed to set up Drake & Scull Construction, which will be registered in Dubai with a fully-owned subsidiary in Saudi Arabia. We wanted to house a holding group and it will own 80 per cent of Gulf Technical Construction Company in Dubai (GTCC), Drake's civil contracting subsidiary, and branches," said Khaldoun Tabari, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Drake & Scull International (DSI). "The new entity will be the official arm of Drake & Scull Civil division in all regions outside the UAE."

He said the company is already working on projects in Saudi Arabia and expects to see wins in future. "So we thought of going ahead and setting up the Saudi subsidiary, which will happen in the next 30 days," he told Emirates Business. "We see a lot of work in the civil sector and we hope to announce certain sizeable awards in a while," he said.

The company is in the final stages of its Qatar acquisition by the first quarter of 2010. "Libya has not seen any contract wins and is a "difficult market", he said.

"We have been very active in Oman and Saudi and are looking to soon announce contract wins." The company hopes to announce its results by the second week of February. Tabari said: "Things are looking better than expected and we hope to consolidate all the companies that we have been talking about in 2010."

Meanwhile, Drake & Scull International Abu Dhabi, a subsidiary of DSI, has been awarded a contract for mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) works for a prominent hotel in Abu Dhabi. The contract has been awarded by Arabian Construction Company (ACC) and is valued at Dh187m. This is the third project DSI has won in the first quarter of 2010, bringing the total value of projects won in the same period to Dh369m, it said in a statement.

DSI Abu Dhabi was established in 1966 and have worked on projects such as Baynunah Towers, Shangri La Hotel Qaryat Al Beri and the Yas Island Rotana Resort and Centro by Rotana Hotel.

In January, Drake's Chief Financial Officer Khaled Jarrar resigned and a replacement has yet to be announced. "We have not yet chosen a new CFO but [we will be doing it] soon," said Tabari.

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