KUWAIT, 26 September 2006 — Al-Deera Holding’s Chairman and Managing Director Abdulwahab Ahmad Al-Nakib announced yesterday that the consortium of Kuwait-based companies has upped its investment in BPL Global Ltd., an international leader in “Smart grid” technologies and broadband services over power lines, to reach $20 million, with Al-Deera’s contribution alone reaching $10 million after the new deal.
The current round of investment totaling $25 million included in addition to Al-Deera, Kuwaiti-based companies: International Financial Advisors, Kuwait Holding Company, and International Finance Company and US-based companies — DQE Communications, PA Early Stage Partners and SZAR Partners. The deal comes amid some rapid technological changes and legal developments that are paving the way for the endorsement of BPL services on a global scale, ultimately reflecting positively on the investment’s rate of return.
Al-Deera’s participation in the second series of capital raise, after the initial 2005 seed round has allowed it to benefit from BPL Global’s improved market valuation, thus making three times its initial investment. Jassim Mohammad Al-Bahar, chairman and managing director of IFA, speaking at the annual general assembly meeting in June said that the IFA consortium through Al-Deera has reached an agreement with BPL Global that would lead to the implementation of this technology in Kuwait. “This service will improve the efficiency of the electricity grid by monitoring the load conditions that the grid maybe exposed to at any given point in time,” he said. Al-Deera’s General Manager Khaled Magdy El-Marsafy said that smart grids improve the performance of electricity networks by smoothing out peak power demands, thus allowing utility companies to save billions of dollars that would have otherwise been needed to prevail against recurrent interruptions in transmission.”
“We’re pleased to begin our partnership with BPL Global,” said Al-Nakib. “We’ve seen a great deal of momentum with this company, as it formed an increasing number of promising joint ventures, built a solid management team, and adopted pioneering steps in the development of smart grid technologies and broadband services,” he added. Al-Nakib indicated that the tremendous growth potential associated with the project had also been an important factor underlying the investment decision. “While the telecommunications industry, for instance, is expected to grow by a compounded annual rate of 5.90 percent till 2010, the BPL communication sector is likely to expand at a faster pace given the considerable reduction in associated capital cost and the subsequent impact of the latter on demand levels, he said, adding that the Middle East region is likely to keep pace with the global trend when it comes to telecommunications, but given the fact that BPL technology allows for reducing the end-users cost drastically it might prove to be a much more attractive option in the long run.”
BPL Global provides end-to-end solutions designed to meet the specific needs of a utility by integrating equipment from leading suppliers with an enterprise software platform. This creates a communications network over a utility’s power lines that interface with smart meters, switches, sensors and other grid devices to more efficiently manage transmission and distribution of electricity. This same communications infrastructure provides data, voice and video broadband services to residences, apartment buildings, and businesses.
