The UK contractor Carillion has announced that it has won a five-year, £240 million (Dh1.1bn) extension to a facilities management contract being carried out for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO).
The company, which operates as Carillion Alawi in Oman, has been working for PDO for three years, providing facilities management services to an estate of 2,000 buildings over a 100,000 square kilometre area. Its contract covers engineering maintenance, cleaning and the upkeep of accommodation of non-process buildings, such as accommodation blocks. It also provides catering for up to 3,000 employees, as well as landscaping, linen and laundry services.
The company said that the new award had helped take the total amount of new and probable orders secured this year to £2.5bn (Dh11.9bn). It reported revenue of £4.6bn last year, 16 per cent of which was generated in the Middle East.
The company said that revenue and profit for its Middle East business for the first six months of this year is broadly in line with expectations. It said that its strategy for the region is to be strict over contract selection and to target work where it can support contracts with financing through the UK export finance scheme – a credit agency that helps support UK companies’ work overseas.
"Over the medium term, we are also pursuing public-private partnership opportunities, notably in Oman, where we have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Oman Investment Fund to develop a PPP programme in the health sector," it said. That deal was first announced in March.
Richard Howson, the chief executive of Carillion, said the deal “reinforces our commitment to supporting PDO through the efficient management and operation of its critical infrastructure”.
Meanwhile, the Italian construction company Salini Impregilo has held a signing ceremony in Kuwait to mark the award of a US$955m contract with the country’s Public Authority for Housing Welfare to deliver the South Al Mutlaa project north-west of Kuwait City.
The company, alongside its Turkish joint venture partner, Kolin, is set to build the infrastructure for what should become the largest city in Kuwait, expected to cost about $20bn to develop and serve a population of 400,000.
The Salini/Kolin contract involves building 150km of roads as well as utilities infrastructure, including water and sewage systems, electricity, lighting and telephone networks.
“Though big, the project to develop the infrastructure of the city is expected to be implemented in record time,” said Yasser Abel, Kuwait’s housing minister.
Hill International was appointed to manage the development of South Al Mutlaa City in May under a five-year, 23.8 million dinar (Dh286m) contract.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
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.”
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 258hp from 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,550-4,000rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.1L/100km
Price: from Dh362,500
On sale: now
The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
