JEDDAH, 30 January 2007 — The Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) and the Gulf One Investment Bank (G1) signed an agreement for the establishment of a joint company that provides support to infrastructure- and energy-related projects.
Dr. Ahmed Al-Mutawa’a, secretary general of GOIC, said the major role of the new company would be to capitalize on the considerable in-house technical expertise in industrial consulting within the organization.
The enormous opportunities available in the industrial and infrastructure sectors in the Gulf region dictated the need for setting up this joint venture, he noted. Its key objective is to improve the private sector’s access to industrial projects and to support their decision-making capacity by providing a structured and reliable methodology that will enhance the quality of investments in such projects, he explained.
Dr. Nahed Taher, the CEO and a board member of Gulf One Bank, stressed the need for a unified vision of the bank and the GOIC amid the growing market demand for such services in the region. G1 blends global standards and regional knowledge of the financial evaluation and planning for knowledge-based mega projects, he said. The bank’s involvement in this joint venture is to enhance the returns and eliminate the downside risks or constraints on such sophisticated, sizable and long-term projects, he added.
The project sponsors face many uncertainties as they turn around a project idea from a business concept and feasibility assessment to construction financing. Early definition of a project’s financial structure, economic drivers and potential development obstacles significantly improves the project’s successful and cost-effective implementation.
Understanding and optimizing the complex relationships among the technical, financial and development aspects of a project requires an integrated team with multidisciplinary expertise. The economic impact of such a unique venture in the Gulf is projected to have a significant positive impact in terms of unleashing the GCC potential and help overcome structural imbalances in the region through a sustainable high value-added business growth.
The project development company — through early collaboration with their clients’ project teams and by providing feasibility studies as well as financing plans — will integrate a project’s technical, financial and development information for identifying economically viable project options.
GOIC has already rendered these services for many clients in a variety of industries, resulting in high professional credibility and strong relationships with major international institutions.
The new joint venture seeks to strengthen these services to attract various private sector institutional and individual investors, including banks and capital markets, as well as government-supported export-credit and multilateral agencies.
