Taqa names new finance chief

Deputy chief financial officer Mohammed Al Ahbabi will be the new CFO from September 1.

Taqa’s finance chief, Grant Gillon, is quitting and will be replaced by his deputy.

The struggling energy company, known officially as Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, said that Mohammed Al Ahbabi, who joined the company as deputy chief financial officer at the start of the year, would replace Mr Gillon as acting chief financial officer from September 1.

“Mohammed’s previous success as CFO of an Abu Dhabi government entity, experience from leading Taqa’s recent US$1 billion bond offering and being actively involved in the functioning of the finance department during the past year places him well for this role,” said Saeed Hamad Al Dhaheri, who has been Taqa’s acting chief operating officer since replacing Ed LaFehr in June.

Mr Al Ahbabi was finance chief at Abu Dhabi Ambulatory Healthcare Services Company (Seha) for seven years before joining Taqa.

He started his career at Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco), which oversees the emirate’s main onshore oil operations, which produce about half the country’s 3 million barrels per day of oil.

Taqa refinanced $1bn of its $20bn in debt earlier in the summer with a successful bond offering and has a number of similar refinancings needed next year and beyond.

The company has been struggling since the collapse first of natural gas prices and then oil prices severely reduced the value of its overseas portfolio of oil and gas assets that it accumulated since its inception 11 years ago.

It’s heavy indebtedness has limited its options and it has sharply cut capital investment and operating over the last couple of years to try to manage its balance sheet.

Grant Gillon took over as chief financial officer in May of last year, having joined Taqa in 2012 and worked in various business management roles.

Follow The National's Business section on Twitter