Depa venture wins four new contracts worth Dh100m



Interiors provider links up with Northern Ireland-based Mivan Gureni Lukwaro Depa, the interiors company that fitted out the world's tallest tower, Burj Khalifa in Dubai, has won four new contracts worth Dh100 million (US$27.2m). The Dubai company said its joint venture with Mivan, based in Northern Ireland, had won three orders in the UAE and one in Yemen. The largest of them is a 12-month project worth Dh60m for the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, which is scheduled to open in late 2012.

The company will install drywall partitioning and specialist ceiling works in three of the clinic's buildings. The company has also recently signed two other contracts in the UAE, including the refurbishment of several areas of Abu Dhabi International Airport's Terminal 1. "Abu Dhabi continues to be an extremely significant market for us as the city continues to progress major development projects and to represent an important proportion of Depa's overall revenues," said Mohannad Sweid, the chief executive of Depa.

With operations in more than 17 countries, Depa will enter the Yemen market with a contract to refurbish a hotel in Sana'a, the capital. Depa was awarded a two-month refurbishment contract for the Aden Hotel in Sana'a to upgrade its public areas with completion scheduled in time for the 20th Gulf Cup football championship, starting on November 22. The hotel has one of the largest ballrooms in the city and about 200 rooms and suites.

The contracts come after a challenging start to the year for the company, which announced in August it had lost Dh103m for the first half. Earlier this year, Depa won a Dh220m contract for the interior fit-out of the five-star Hotel and Casino in Luanda, Angola. The company also paid Dh449m to increase its stake in Design Studio Furniture Manufacturer, based in Singapore, from 24.7 per cent to a controlling stake of 90.5 per cent.

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Company name: Co Chocolat

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Based: Dubai, UAE

Industry: Food

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Investors: Fahad bin Juma, self-funding, family and friends

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Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Name: Peter Dicce

Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics

Favourite sport: soccer

Favourite team: Bayern Munich

Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer

Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates 

 

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Power: 261hp
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