A consortium of companies from Qatar and Bahrain has confirmed it has fully acquired Qatar Shipping Company's subsidiary Qatar Engineering & Construction Company WLL (QCon).
The consortium members are Qatar First Investment Bank (QFIB) and The First Investor (TFI), each of whom has taken a 41 per stake in QCon. The other shareholders are co-originator of the transaction Qatar America Asia Consortium (QAAC) and co-originator and arranger Bahrain-based Unicom Investment Bank.
Earlier, Qatar Shipping said its board had approved the sale of QCon for $110 million.
QCon is one of Qatar's leading industrial engineering and construction contracting companies specialising in the oil and gas, petrochemical, power and other industrial infrastructure sectors.
Established in 1975, QCon is organised along three main business lines: engineering, procurement and construction; maintenance; and fabrication. The company has successfully executed over 1,400 construction projects in a broad range of industrial sectors, is the leading contractor in Qatar's oil and gas sector and the market leader in the provision of maintenance services. It has dedicated facilities to carry out the fabrication of heavy off-shore structures, including a topside production facility located in Qatar's Mesaieed Industrial City.
Expansion plans
Abdullah bin Fahad Bin Ghorab Al-Marri, chairman of QFIB, commented: "This is an important investment for QFIB in the energy sector and we look forward to working with our partners to support QCon's expansion plans, both in Qatar and within the broader Mena region.
"We are confident of QCon's ability to capitalise on the future growth of the oil and gas sector and large-scale industrial projects, which will result in an increase in the demand for engineering, construction and maintenance services. QCon is well placed to take advantage of these developments to further grow its business regionally."
Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Jabor Al Thani, chairman of QAAC, said the consortium would be able to add tremendous value to the company as it entered the next phase of its growth."
Mohammed Abdulaziz Saad Al-Saad, board member of TFI, said QCon was is an excellent position to grow, particularly given the company's long experience in serving the largest industries in the region, namely oil, gas and power.
Majid Al Sayed Bader Al-Refai, managing director and CEO of Unicorn, said the investment in QCon marked Unicorn's third investment in the regional energy sector in recent months and reflected its confidence in the ability of the sector to continue to drive regional economic growth."
Qatar Shipping, which is merging with Qatar Navigation, owns and runs a fleet of vessels operating in sectors including crude oil, petrochemicals and liquefied petroleum gas.
