JEDDAH: Tharawat Development Company (TDC) has signed an agreement with Kubota Japanese Company (KJC) to establish Kubota Saudi Arabia Company, LLC. The agreement, worth an estimated SR225 million, was signed by Subhi Mohammed Al-Hashim, vice chairman and deputy member of TDC, and Takeshi Torwiki, general manager of iron industries in KJC, Osaka.
Kubota Saudi Arabia Company will function to melt and cast heat-resistant alloys, crack pipelines, and steam in ethylene cracking units that are used in the petrochemical factories.
The company will be located in Dammam where the Saudi Industrial Property Authority has provided a 25,000 sq. meter plot of land in the second industrial area of the city for the new company to begin implementation and production by mid-2010.
“This company currently enjoys the support of the Kingdom’s government and the encouragement of the National Industrial Clusters Development Program (NIDCP) and the Saudi-Japanese Industrial Cooperation team that was established to reinforce the new industrial investments between both countries in available opportunities, especially in the Saudi market,” Al-Hashim said.
He added that the industrial cooperation team is working to find an approach to coordinate events for the industrial partnerships between both countries as he believes the team would serve as an effective industrial communication channel between both parties.
Al-Hashim also clarified that the new partnership is considered a Japanese-Saudi joint company due to the amount of shares contributed to the agreement, with the Japanese share accounting for 51 percent of the partnership and the Saudi share representing 49 percent of the deal.
Commenting on the Saudi market following the signing of the agreement, Torwiki said, “The Saudi market is a trustworthy one by everyone. Moreover, the strategic relation that companies both Saudi and Japanese share is based on a mutual confidence and the diversity of several important economic sectors for both countries.”
Torwiki also implied that the agreement with TDC is more than just establishing a factory but a technical partnership as Kubota will supply the new company with international technology updates in the industry, which is expected to be one of the top ranked, especially since it is considered to be the only company of its kind in the Middle East and Africa.
