The Abu Dhabi-based Al Jaber Group, which last year completed a debt restructuring programme, has won a 1.8 billion Saudi riyal (Dh1.76bn) contract to develop Abha airport in the kingdom.
The award comes as the conglomerate seeks to expand its footprint in Saudi Arabia. “We are looking to winning more projects in the Saudi market in the near future,” said Obaid Khaleefa Al Jaber Al Marri, the company’s chairman. “Al Jaber Group is well positioned to benefit from the increased momentum in the launch of new projects in this strategic market.”
The 36-month project includes building a new passenger terminal with an area of 86,000 square metres that will accommodate 5 million passengers a year. The project also includes 20 passenger boarding bridges, an apron for planes to park, parallel corridors to accommodate 26 planes simultaneously and car parking buildings for 2,800 cars.
Al Jaber is one of the biggest industrial groups in the UAE, employing more than 50,000 people.
It completed in September a restructuring of debt which it accrued after the onset of the financial crisis in 2008. The firm has not revealed the size of the debt restructuring, but bankers have put it anywhere between $4bn and $4.5bn. Negotiations with creditors were complicated by the existence of different types of debt – secured and unsecured – which increased the overall liabilities of the group.
There were also losses related to foreign currency hedging transactions, especially relating to the Japanese yen, which fluctuated significantly at the time of the earthquake in Japan in 2011, soon after restructuring talks began.
Al Jaber's latest major project awards include a Dh460 million order from Petrofac Emirates and a Dh2.6bn contract from state-run energy firm Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
dalsaadi@thenational.ae
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