Pepsico International has announced a 60-day campaign across Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf in which participants can take part through SMS and win SR15 million worth of prizes. It ends in mid-August. “The campaign reflects the company’s interest in interacting with its consumers and giving them the opportunity to win prizes,” its Marketing Director Hossam Dabbous said. He described the campaign as the biggest of its kind in the Gulf in terms of the range of prizes. Offered as prizes are a Chrysler Crossfire sport car daily, Playstation 2 Satin Silver plus GT tape every three hours, musical iPod shuffle every hour, Sawa recharge card every two minutes and several ring tones from Mazzika musical channel.
BIRA
Bitumat International Roofing Academy (BIRA) held its 15th session in Dammam recently. Twelve sessions marked the event with the participation of about 30 delegates from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Sudan, Libya, South Africa, Kenya, Eritrea, Mauritius, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and Singapore. They included professionals like architects, engineers and specifiers. “It’s really a great achievement to organize such an intense and detailed seminar,” South Africa’s Graham Henry Van Staden said. “In South Africa we’ve many international brands locally manufactured and we also get a good amount of European products. Bitumat products compare very well and we’re able to sell the material and also get the material specified by consultants. Consultants look at the test reports and the product references. Bitumat has a brilliant track record so it was not difficult selling to the consultants,” he said. Nigeria’s Abdul Jabbar and Singaporean Lum Kok Meng were among others present. Bitumat General Manager Riad Nimri said he was satisfied with the response from the delegates.
Giorgio Armani
Following the signing of a letter of intent in 2004, Giorgio Armani and EMAAR Hotels & Resorts LLC, their respective Chairmen Giorgio Armani and Mohamed Ali Alabbar executed the formal contractual agreement between the two companies for the development of a unique international collection of ‘Armani Hotels and Resorts.’ Under the terms of the agreement, Giorgio Armani is awarding a long-term license to EMAAR for the operation of a collection of luxury hotels and resorts, whereby EMAAR will be fully responsible for real estate, construction, management and operations, with Giorgio Armani overseeing all aspects of content, design and style, including interiors and amenities incorporating the various Armani fashion, furnishings and beauty collections. EMAAR Properties has established a wholly owned subsidiary, the EMAAR Hotels and Resorts LLC, along with separate management company exclusively dedicated to the management and operations of the Armani Hotel and Resort collection. These companies are under the direction of Mohamed Alabbar and are being staffed by highly experienced managers recruited internationally from within the luxury hotels sector. Giorgio Armani has also established an Armani Hotels and Resorts division at its headquarters in Milan, which for the last one year has been actively developing design concepts under the close supervision of Giorgio Armani that will define the look and feel of the hotels and resorts. The agreement foresees the opening of at least seven luxury hotels and three vacation resorts within the next 10 years backed by an investment of over $1 billion from EMAAR.
LG
LG Electronics sponsored an exhibition of photographs titled “Beer Al-Ain,” which ended at the Al-Alamia Gallery yesterday. It featured 80 photographs taken by two artists - Adel Farhan, a Saudi, and Walter Luedin, a Swiss expatriate living in the Kingdom for 20 years. While Farhan’s works depicted ancient monuments and ruins, Luedin exhibited his interest in underwater photography and field trips. A few exhibits were mounted on LG’s Artcool air conditioners, which have received many design awards around the world including from iF and Reddot. “LG has a 28.4 percent share of the Kingdom’s air-conditioner market. Our air- conditioners have maintained the number one position in the world for the fifth consecutive year,” K.H. Kim, president of LG, Middle East & Africa, said at the opening of the LG Air Conditioning Academy in Jeddah on Sunday. LG has surpassed the 10 million unit mark in worldwide sales in 2004, and its success can be attributed to quality, cost leadership and excellent marketing activities, he said. “The business of air-conditioners is heavily influenced by the local construction industry, and large orders are won or lost depending on price and quality competitiveness,” C.K. Cho, general manager at LG, Saudi Arabia, said.
Dubai Holding
Dubai Holding has launched Dubai Energy to spearhead its investments in strategic regional and global energy opportunities. The company, with Ahmad Sharaf, as its newly appointed CEO, will focus on building a diversified global energy investment portfolio and further strengthen regional and international alliances. Dubai Energy will concentrate on strategic opportunities that will broaden our trade relationships and lay a pivotal role in developing the importance of Dubai and the UAE in the dynamic global energy landscape. The company is actively evaluating key oil and gas prospects with international companies and screening potential equity investments in the broad energy sector. Dubai Holding has companies operating in a variety of sectors ranging from health, technology, finance, real estate, research, education, humanitarianism, tourism, energy, communication, industry, biotechnology and hospitality.
Amiantit
During April, three Amiantit manufacturing facilities in Saudi Arabia — Amiantit Fiberglass Industries Ltd. (AFIL) and FPC, both in Dammam, and Amitech in Jeddah, reached a milestone by exporting to 13 countries. “While Saudi Arabia remains our biggest single market, export orders are becoming more and more substantial and their combined volume adds up to an increasingly important part of our business,” said Amiantit President & CEO Fareed Al-Khalawi. The orders were for Glassfiber Reinforced Polyester (GRP) pipes of various diameters for water and wastewater infrastructure projects. In addition, AFIL Dammam has supplied the Iran Marine Industrial Company (SADRA) with SR48.75 million ($13 million) worth of pipes and fittings. SADRA is one of Iran’s biggest offshore contracting companies and has the contract to provide utility services to the Assuluya-based petrochemical industries. The project will supply seawater for cooling which is transported through an open channel to a pumping station and then through a 12 km network of GRP pipes to the industrial complex.
