ASSAUDIA
Assaudia Real Estate Development, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Omar K. Al Esayi Group (OKAG), has announced the appointment of Zuhair Fayez Partnership (ZFP) as architect and engineering design consultant for the Holiday Inn Hotel Program project. ZFP will develop the architectural designs of SR400 million nationwide Express by Holiday Inn, regarded as the world’s fastest growing international 3-star hotel brand. “The Express by Holiday Inn Hotel Program will set the standard for those seeking quality accommodation at a fair price,” said Motasim Hajaj, general manager of Assaudia Real Estate Development. “The appointment of ZFP is in line with Assaudia’s strategy of appointing technical service providers with proven expertise and superior levels of professional standards.” “We are honored to be associated with this project which will add value to the Saudi Arabian economy and significantly address the existing gap in the availability of quality three-star hotels,” said Abdullah Alsaady, executive vice president of Zuhair Fayez Partnership.
EMAAR ECONOMIC CITY
Global real estate major Emaar Properties has appointed Nidal Abdulmajeed Jamjoom as chief executive officer of “Emaar Economic City” which oversees its flagship development in Saudi Arabia, the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC). A Saudi national with 15 years experience in strategy development and deployment, business management, brand development and marketing in one of the top 100 companies globally with a significant presence in the region, Nidal will drive the ambitious SR100 billion ($26.6 billion) KAEC project covering 55 million square meters. “As the single largest private sector investment in the Kingdom, we wanted KAEC to be led by a Saudi national who has in-depth market knowledge with the passion to make the mission of building a world-class city come to reality,” said Emaar Chairman Mohamed Ali Alabbar. “Nidal has proven testimonials in a wide spectrum of job responsibilities and is driven to develop KAEC, which will accelerate the economic growth of the Kingdom.” “KAEC is a challenging project — not only for its vast scale and size,” said Jamjoom. “By encompassing all aspects of the economy, it will catalyze the Kingdom’s economy and boost investment inflow,” he added. Nidal was previously the Saudi Arabia country manager for Procter & Gamble.
IBN ZAHR
Saudi European Petrochemical Company (IBN ZAHR), an affiliate of the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) on Tuesday signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Daelim Industrial Company Ltd., South Korea, for the engineering, procurement and construction management services of utilities and off-site facilities for its Polypropylene 3 Plant (under construction) in Al-Jubail. The new facilities are to be completed in conjunction with the main Polypropylene 3 Plant, by 2nd quarter of 2008. The LOI was signed at the SABIC Engineering & Project Management office by Omar Abdullah Al-Amoudi, IBN ZAHR president, Jong-Won Na, vice president, plant business division, Daelim and Sung-In Kim, managing director, Daelim Saudi Arabia Company Ltd. Mohamed Al-Mady, SABIC vice chairman & CEO said, “The new plant will add 500,000 metric tons annual capacity of polystyrene. This is a thermal plastic product, which forms the basis for a broad segment of downstream industries. The production of this material is expected to contribute towards the development of the production of the national downstream industries, and strengthening SABIC’s competitive capabilities in the global markets. SABIC is the world’s sixth largest producer of polystyrene”.
UIB-KIC
Unicorn Investment Bank (UIB) and Standard Bank have successfully closed a landmark securitization transaction on behalf of Kingdom Installment Company (KIC) of Saudi Arabia, a pioneer of housing finance in the Kingdom. UIB acted as lead manager, Shariah adviser and joint bookrunner and Standard Bank acted as joint bookrunner. The underlying Sukuk structure and assets achieved a credit rating of A- from Capital Intelligence Ltd., an international credit rating agency with a strong track record of rating GCC credits. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector financing arm of the World Bank Group and rated AAA by internationally recognized rating agencies, has provided an innovative mezzanine credit enhancement taking the form of a stand-by murabaha facility. Furthermore, the Sukuk carries credit enhancement from Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Development Company of KSA, rated A- by CI.
QATAR TELECOM
Qatar Telecom (Qtel), Qatar’s exclusive telecoms provider, announced the launch of its first service delivered over its newly launched third generation (3G) mobile phone network at a press event held in Doha on Wednesday. Called “3G Video Calling”, the service allows callers to see live video images of each other during phone conversations through their 3G mobile handset. The event was chaired by Qtel’s chairman, Abdullah ibn Mohammed ibn Saud Al-Thani and included CEO Dr. Nasser Marafih; Executive Director for Wireless Services Fahad ibn Jassim Al-Thani. Also present were senior officials from Siemens and Alcatel, Qtel’s partners for the supply, installation and commissioning of Qatar’s 3G/UMTS network. In his statement to the press, Qtel’s chairman said that Qtel was one of the first operators in the Gulf and Middle East to offer 3G Video Calling for both postpaid and prepaid customers with no connection or monthly fee.
XPRESS
XPress Telecommunications, Jordan’s exclusive iDEN provider in wireless and mobile technology launched its new “Recharge and Win” summer campaign. The promotional campaign comes packed with fantastic prizes to win, and targets both XPress existing and potential prepaid subscribers. Throughout the 6-week campaign, which started July 13th, both XPress’s existing prepaid subscribers, and its new ones will automatically be eligible to enter into a weekly raffle draw each time they recharge with XPress JD 10, JD 5, or JD3 scratch cards. The prizes that this campaign has to offer are many, and include trip packages to Marmarees, Sharm Al Sheikh, Varna, Cairo, Istanbul, Antalia, Cyprus, XPress handsets and prepaid lines, JD 5 and JD 10 Scratch cards, and lots more. Winners’ names will be exclusively broadcasted on Sawt AlGhad Radio Station every Sunday.
AVIS SAUDI ARABIA
AVIS Saudi Arabia has inaugurated its regional office in the Eastern Province, which comes in line with its expanding plan all over the Kingdom. Sulaiman Al-Saleh, Arabian Hala Company chairman and AVIS Saudi Arabia general manager said that the company’s regional office is representing a step in achieving the company’s expansion plan adding that AVIS has become one of the five biggest trademarks in the world. Al-Saleh pointed out that AVIS has adopted a series of development steps in the Eastern Province such as increasing the number of its car fleet of the company that possesses more than 5000 cars, referring to the customer service development programs such as members club, safety driving programs and other distinguished services. Al-Saleh indicated that the company has employed a number of Saudi youth in its regional office in supporting Saudization programs, as 30 percent of his company’s employees are Saudis who attended different training programs.
NCB
The National Commercial Bank (NCB) has participated in the conference specializing in the field of credit documents, which was organized by the International Chamber of Commerce of Syria in cooperation with the International Chamber of Commerce. The conference focused on revising assets and international practices in the area of credit. Bassam Ganadiely, the NCB country head of trade services stated that the goal of the bank’s participation in the seminar was to constantly develop bank’s services offered to clients of foreign trade by showing them the latest assets and unified practices in credit documents and corrections on swift messages used in credits, as well as the criteria and international banking assets and electronic presentation rules of credit. He added that the commercial service center management under the direction of the upper bank management is committed to participating in conferences that deal with topics related to foreign trade. Ganadiely stated that the most prominent function of the commercial center management at the bank was to enable clients dealing with foreign trade to be updated on all the latest related international rosters. This is conducted through training courses held by the bank annually for its clients, in addition to many topics concerned with credit documents.
EIRAD/UPS
EIRAD Trading & Contracting Co. Ltd., the authorized service contractor for UPS in Saudi Arabia, recently announced the appointment of James O’Gara as its new country manager. Saudi Arabia, the core of the Middle East economy, is widely seen by industry sources as a major growth market for distribution services, one of the most hotly contested segments in Saudi Arabia’s World Trade Organization accession agreement. “EIRAD/UPS is the Kingdom’s leading package delivery company and one of the country’s few premier supply chain services providers,” said Dr. Mamdouh F. Ghazzawi, EIRAD’s managing director. “By taking onboard management consultants like James O’Gara, with his extensive international experience, as our new country manager, we are able to offer the Kingdom’s booming economy with the very best in sophisticated synchronized commerce solutions. WTO entry will enable the Kingdom’s already strong economy to flourish, and we expect synchronized commerce to be at the heart of that economic surge.” O’Gara brings more than 10 years of experience with UPS to the Saudi market, having served in various operational and management positions in UPS UK.