Emaar, The Economic City (EEC), the Tadawul-listed company developing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), has announced the start of construction of a new manufacturing facility for clay pipes at the Industrial Valley (IV) in KAEC by Advanced Industrial Company (AIC). The Advanced Industrial Company for Clay Pipes, to be built on an 80,000 square meter land at a cost of SR140 million, is scheduled to be operational by 2011. The new facility has a team of experienced professionals, engineers and product specialists, and is expected to create more than 144 new jobs and train new skills among Saudis in the region. Clay pipes are a key component used in sewage and drainage systems meeting a critical need of high performance and high strength pipes in demand for world-class infra projects. Ali Al-Zahrani, project manager at AIC Clay Pipes praised the great cooperation demonstrated and the facilities provided by EEC. He said: “We are very impressed by how EEC is oiling the wheels of business at KAEC. We extend our sincere appreciation to EEC, and the Economic Cities Authority (ECA) for providing us with facilities that played a vital role in obtaining all permits needed to construct the factory. We are excited to have our new manufacturing hub located at KAEC Industrial Valley. Our ultimate objective is to secure the basic market demands and to ensure continuity of its operations by reaching an initial production capacity of 60,000 tons per annum,” added Al-Zahrani.
Unicorn Investment Bank (Unicorn) has announced the successful sale of its investment in Victron, a specialty provider of high-mix, complex electronics manufacturing services (EMS) based in Fremont, California. Unicorn acquired an 80 percent equity stake in Victron in December 2007. The bank has sold its stake to OnCore, a prominent US-based EMS company. The sale of Victron follows Unicorn’s recent decision to exit the US market to focus on the bank’s core markets in the GCC region, Malaysia and Turkey. The bank also recently successfully exited its investment in Sun Well Service, a leading regional workover services provider to oil and gas exploration companies in the US. Commenting on the sale, Yousef A. Al-Shelash, chairman of Unicorn, said: “Going forward, our private equity division will continue to target businesses in the oil and gas services, industrial services, logistics, agri-business and health care sectors, with a specific focus on private companies operating in the GCC and MENA regions, including Turkey.” Unicorn recently announced its results for the first half of 2011, reporting a net profit of approximately $3.1 million for the period. Unicorn’s return to profitability follows a major restructuring initiative undertaken by the bank in the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011. Ikbal Daredia, acting chief executive officer of Unicorn, said: “Although the global operating environment remains extremely challenging, we are confident that the strong corrective measures that we have taken to strengthen the bank, including major deleveraging of our balance sheet, a significant reduction in our operating expenses and the realignment of the bank’s operating strategy leave Unicorn in a strong position to continue to report profitability in 2011.”
Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors (MYNM)-BMW Group provided a live demonstration of its ConnectedDrive driver-assistance technologies through an especially designed FutureLab that explains BMW’s key innovations through the senses of sight, sound and touch in Jeddah recently. BMW ConnectedDrive is BMW Group’s philosophy of exchanging information between the driver, the car and the outside world to give the driver and passengers information and services to help make their driving experience safer and more comfortable. The display, which was assembled for 10 days at Kingdom Mall in Riyadh and then 8 days at Jeddah’s Park Hyatt-Marina was flown in by MYNM, the official importer of the BMW Group in the Kingdom. Visitors were able to go inside the FutureLab and take part in interactive demonstrations of BMW technology in the latest BMW models, including the BMW X5, BMW 6 Series Convertible and BMW 7 Series. Anees Jamjoom, MD, MYNM, said: “As a high-traffic area that is always busy, Kingdom Mall and Park Hyatt-Marina are the perfect venues for us to display the FutureLab for people to see, understand and experience the latest technological advancements that have been incorporated over the last two years into the BMW’s latest product range. These features have all been designed to benefit the driver and passenger from both safety and comfort standpoints.” Passengers can use STC’s Wifi services to experience on-board Internet access through their portable devices such as Smartphone’s, laptops and iPads.
Ericsson and Pacific Controls, a Dubai-based world-class ICT enabled software developer and provider of global total automation solutions, has announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly develop ICT enabled smart solutions for vertical industry sectors. With the combined efforts and experience of both companies, Ericsson and Pacific Controls will enable customers to offer smarter services and products to their end-users. The agreement calls for Ericsson and Pacific Controls to jointly cater to the business needs of sectors such as energy, utilities and certain areas of government. With Ericsson as the global leading provider of telecommunication technology and services and its consulting and systems integration capabilities combined with Pacific Controls’ expertise in the fields of energy management, remote monitoring, controlling and M2M (Machine-to-Machine) applications, customers will be able to cut their costs, increase their revenues and enhance their overall productivity. Dilip Rahulan, chairman and CEO of Pacific Controls, said: “We’re continuously offering innovative technology solutions to add value to our customers’ businesses and enable them to achieve their goals.” The one-year agreement is also in line with Ericsson’s 50 billion connected devices by 2020 vision. Anders Lindblad, president, Ericsson MENEA Region, said: “This collaboration will enhance our customers’ productivity and reduce operational costs, and enrich the lives of their end users.”
