Swicorp buys stake in RAK Ghani

Swicorp Joussour Company announced yesterday that it has acquired a strategic stake in RAK Ghani Glass in a joint venture with RAK Investment Authority, JS Group and Ghani Glass Ltd. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

RAK Ghani is in the process of setting up a pharmaceutical glass plant that will be the first of its kind in the GCC region. The plant's initial annual capacity will be 45,000 tonnes. The company plans to supply the product in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

RAK Ghani is situated on 100,000 square metres of land in Ras Al Khaimah's industrial zone.

Shahid Khan, Investment Director, Swicorp Private Equity said: "The global pharmaceutical packaging industry is worth around $30 billion (Dh110bn) and the demand is expected to continue rising, especially in developing markets. We believe RAK Ghani is ideally positioned to capture this demand growth for light-weight, high-quality pharmaceutical bottles across the GCC, Asia and European markets."

RAK Ghani also plans to expand the plant's capacity in the future and is also considering developing other glass-related products.

Faysal Hamza, Executive Director, Swicorp Private Equity said: "This is Joussour's second investment in the glass sector and we continue to believe in the sector. In particular, we believe that high-quality pharma bottling has strong potential in the Mena region. Moreover, we would like to express our gratitude for the trust and confidence the RAK Investment Authority and other stakeholders in the plant have placed in Swicorp Joussour Company."

Imtiaz Ahmed Khan, CEO of RAK Ghani said: "We are confident that Swicorp Joussour Company will add significant value to this project. The team is working very hard on completing the project and we are on schedule to start production by December 2008."

Founded in Switzerland in 1987, Swicorp has its headquarters in Riyadh, and additional offices in Jeddah, Dubai, Tunis, Algiers and Geneva. Swicorp (UAE) Ltd is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

Swicorp Joussour Company, a $712m Saudi joint stock company, is managed by Swicorp.