Kuwait, 25-04-2012: During the Oman Economic Forum which was held this week under the patronage of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said that lasted for two days, honoring the CEO of Gulf Investment Corporation, Mr. Hisham Al-Razzuqi, who received the award from His Highness the Sultan representative Sayyid As’ad bin Tariq bin Taimur Al Said in the presence of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, and a number of ministers and senior officials in the Sultanate and the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the Sultanate of Oman, in collaboration with a group organized by the Economics and Business Industry.
This award is in recognition of Razzuqi’s role in the field of investment and economic development and management excellence for Gulf Investment Corporation, through its development of pilot projects in the areas of economic vitality and importance in the region, in line with GIC’s role as an institution with a joint capital between the governments of the GCC states. Since its inception in 1983, the establishment had invested in more than 60 companies and institutions operating in various sectors. With an investments value of more than $ 30 billion, has won the sector of infrastructure, a large proportion of them such as energy, electricity and water, which accounted for about $ 9 billion, in addition to the sector’s basic mining industries such as iron and steel, petrochemicals and others, knowing that their investment is concentrated in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). In addition to its role in the development of vital projects and the establishment of companies, likewise is doing an important role in financial services and investment, which enjoys the confidence of investors, over the past years among the first to ask a number of financial instruments which included bond funds, equity funds and other financial instruments.
Gulf Investment Corporation’s Important Projects
If these projects have been characterized by their significance that stemmed from the added economic value which had been in accordance with the specific and accurate economic feasibility studies and are of the largest projects that had been developed at the level of the Gulf region are as follows:
Saudi Arabia: Gulf Investment Corporation focuses to keep up with the government’s efforts in working to develop projects related to energy and desalination of sea water both in response to the growing requirement, among which are – Jubail in Saudi Arabia, the largest project to generate electricity and desalination water in the world with a capacity of 2750 MW and 176 million gallons / day, and costs about $ 3.4 billion, and the project’s half of the electricity and water capacity of 850 megawatts and 47 million gallons / day and at a total cost of about $ 1.9 billion. GIC has also invested in the chemicals sector with an acquisition rate of 33% in the National Company for Titanium Dioxide (Cristal), which is the second largest producer in the world of titanium dioxide, which has a production capacity of 700 thousand tons per year at a total cost of about $ 2 billion.
Kingdom of Bahrain: investment in the energy sector, particularly electricity and water in addition to the metal industry are the most important investments of GIC in Bahrain. The largest industrial project there has a special capacity of 1,250 megawatts and 48 million gallons / day. The volume of investment is nearly $ 2.1 billion. This is in addition to its contribution by 50 per cent of the steel company, which includes under its umbrella various investments in the minerals sector, including the Gulf United Steel Holding Co. (Foulath), manufacturers of pellets, and the company United Stainless Steel Company (USCO) manufacturer of stainless steel products with a sponge iron Card productivity of 1.5 million tons per year and the furnace for melting iron production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per year.
Sultanate of Oman: GIC contributed along with its partners in the development of several projects and the implementation of important investments, most recently in 2010 with the opening of Gulf International Pipe, which contributes to the GIC by 20 per cent directly, the first industrial establishments of its kind in Middle East and North Africa produces caps and pipes lines of credit of up to 24 inch diameters. Also GIC’s capital share since 2005 in the Oman Investment Corporation by 50%, which in turn has developed several projects, most notably the Salalah power and water in cooperation with (SembCorp). They also contribute to both the V2 company specialized in the construction industry for trenching pipelines, and Oman Portuguese Cement Products, Inc. Industrial Octal Holding.
State of Qatar: GIC invests in Ras Laffan project (a), the first project to produce electricity and water in an independent capacity of 750 megawatts and 40 million gallons / day and cost about $ 710 million. It also invested in GBI (Gulf Bridge International), a company is building and operating a modern network of fiber optic cables submerged in the sea operates as an integrated system to provide telecommunications services high-capacity of all kinds, with a total investment of about $ 47.4 million U.S. in the GBI, which represents 10% of the capital of the company.
United Arab Emirates: Gulf Investment Corporation started Gulf Reinsurance (Gulf Re) that specializes actively reinsurance assets of high value in the sectors of oil and gas, utilities and transportation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with a capital of $ 400 million and owned by the institution equally with Arch Capital Group Ltd. (Arch Capital Ltd.) one of the largest and most efficient global insurance groups.
State of Kuwait: GI Corp General Trading & Contracting was established with a capital of about $ 20 million, the first company of its kind linking the GCC unified electronic network and independent through the optical fiber. This project was structured to reduce the cost of the transfer of information and facilitate electronic communication between the GCC and the GCC institutions that have branches in several Gulf states, particularly the banks.