Abu Dhabi’s NMDC plans Gulf acquisition by end of year

Company aims to expand in the Far East and Africa amid new opportunities, CEO says

Yasser Zaghloul, group chief executive of NMDC Group, tells The National he is bullish about the company's growth. Antonie Robertson / The National

Abu Dhabi contractor National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC) is planning an acquisition in the Gulf region by the end of the year as part of its expansion plans, its group chief executive has said.

It is also targeting other global markets as it continues to look for new opportunities to support growth, Yasser Zaghloul told The National in an interview.

The acquisitions “are related to our business, either marine or dredging or logistics or construction", he said on the sidelines of the Adipec event on Tuesday. Mr Zaghloul did not reveal the total value of the acquisition or any further details.

NMDC, an engineering, procurement, construction and marine dredging contractor, completed a merger with Abu Dhabi's National Petroleum Construction Company, creating NMDC Energy in 2021.

In September, NMDC Energy was listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange after raising Dh3.22 billion ($877 million) from the sale of 1.15 billion shares, representing 23 per cent of its total share capital.

Apart from the Gulf region, the company is also looking for acquisition opportunities in other global markets.

“We are working very hard on this one. We have a screen for all markets, everywhere around us … we have already defined minimal targets and we are working on it.”

The company aims to fund its acquisitions through its own money and support from banks. “Our position is very strong and our partners here, they love always to work with us because of our performance," Mr Zaghloul said. "So we have our partners, financial institutions and banks, as well as our strong cash position."

The company, which is active in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as in Asia and Europe, aims to expand in those markets.

Last month, it signed a preliminary agreement with Vietnam-based Vingroup to undertake large-scale coastal protection and land reclamation projects in the South-east Asian nation.

“We expand in two directions, vertical and horizontal … vertical-wise in activities, horizontal-wise in geographical markets. So we are focusing on all active markets globally and one of the most active markets after GCC is the Far East and Vietnam as well.”

It is also looking for opportunities in African countries including Angola and Uganda.

The company has a backlog of more than Dh72 billion in contracts as of June and is working on global tenders worth Dh76 billion domestically and globally for works related to marine construction, dredging and other activities.

Its biggest clients include Adnoc, Saudi Aramco as well as Kuwait Oil Company, Abu Dhabi-based Modon Properties and Abu Dhabi Ports.

In August, it was awarded a contract worth more than $200 million by Adnoc for marine dredging works at the Ruwais LNG project. It also secured another contract of $254.6 million from Adnoc Gas in July for an extension of the pipeline to supply gas in the Northern Emirates.

NMDC reported a 16 per cent annual increase in its third-quarter net profit to Dh731 million as revenue grew 50 per cent annually on the back of a robust project pipeline.

For the nine-month period, profit grew 45 per cent on an annual basis to Dh2.19 billion surpassing profit for the whole of the past year and the “trend will continue going up", Mr Zaghloul said.