Oman's Ajay Group has bought the assets of liquidated company Oman Copper Industries and plans to begin production in the next few months.

Ajay chairman Ajit Hamlai declined to reveal the acquisition price and said that his group would invest another RO4 million ($10.39 million) to RO5 million to replace some of the old machinery of the copper unit.

He said that while some equipment was good, some of the machines were 50 years old and the replacement cost of each would be $4 to $5 million.

The assets have been transferred to a newly formed subsidiary, Nuhas Oman LLC, which is fully owned by the group.

Hamlai said his company would raise the installed capacity and enhance the product range to include special purpose copper products.

Oman Copper, which made copper tubes and pipes, had been incorporated in May 1994 with a capital expenditure of about RO8 million. The plant had an annual production capacity of 9,000 tonnes of copper rods for the cables industry and 3,000 tonnes of tubes and pipes for use in air-conditioning, refrigeration and plumbing.

However, the project faced operational and management problems and was unable to make finished products to the required specifications, Hamlai said.