meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

ACC leverages expertise to tap new markets

23 November 2022

 

The UK government announced in October that it will provide funding support for the construction of 10 modern office buildings for a ministerial city in Benin’s largest city Cotonou.

The firm leading the construction is Arabian Construction Company (ACC), and the West African project is the latest example of how the Abu Dhabi-headquartered contractor has used the experience it has developed in the UAE and the Middle East to become an international construction company operating across multiple countries and continents.

ACC was founded in Lebanon in 1967 and early in its history set up a base in Abu Dhabi. From there, it grew to become one of the Middle East’s leading construction companies, offering a range of services to its clients.

“We cover almost every aspect of the construction sector, although we are better known, and receive more attention, for high-rise and the more complex type of buildings,” says Maher Merehbi, ACC’s CEO.

“Among the more recent examples of our flagship projects are Sky View and Address Fountain Views in Downtown Dubai, and the Central Market towers, and Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi.”

As the UAE has developed over the past 50 years, ACC has had the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects. “The UAE has offered a tremendous diversity of work,” says Merehbi.

“A strong recognition should be given to the standard and quality of projects the country has delivered over the past 20 or 30 years. As the UAE has been continuously evolving, this has contributed substantially to the expertise that we have acquired as we grew and evolved with it. Very few cities or countries can claim to have the same quality projects.”



ACC is leading the construction of office buildings for a project in Benin

Building expertise

Developing project and construction management expertise have been key factors in ACC’s success.

“When you run such complex projects, project management and construction management are the essential tools for successful delivery,” says Merhebi.

“As projects grew in complexity and in size, we developed enhanced and more advanced construction management and project management techniques that allow us to maintain both quality and control.

“Control not only focuses on delivering on time, but delivering a high standard that maintains the projects’ performance to the expectations of the employer.”

In addition to traditional contracting, design-and-build contracts have been used as an alternative method of project delivery.

“This is an avenue we have tackled, and we have executed several projects on that model,” says Merhebi.

“Design-and-build is one of the better ways of delivering projects if you wish to do away with the traditional problems of design and specifications modifications or incomplete or misadapted designs. While it relieves the employer from certain risks, it allows the contractor a certain degree of flexibility on the construction methodologies, but it also allocates more responsibility to the contractor.”

ACC has also taken the design-and-build model a step further by becoming a co-developer in some projects.

“Seasoned developers appreciate that early involvement of the contractor, and the design-build approach, protect the employer from certain risks. This has opened up interesting opportunities where we will take a stake in the equity, and that allows the interests of the contractor and developer to be truly aligned,” says Merehbi. 

“Partnering is a little bit unbalanced when all the parties involved do not have an aligned objective. For example, the employer stands to gain from reducing payments to the contractor while the contractor gains from an increase in project payments. 

“Clearly such a situation establishes limitations on the partnering concept. For better alignment of interests between the employer and contractor, the contractor’s role extends beyond merely providing construction services. The contractor is more involved and has a larger contribution to the project.”

Tapping new markets

Outside Lebanon and the UAE, ACC expanded across the region in the 1970s and has worked in most Middle Eastern markets.

“With high oil prices, the economies were growing fast and there was a lot of demand in the market. For ACC, the economic boom in the region meant expansion was the natural avenue,” says Maher.

Moving into new markets showed that even neighbouring countries with similar economic drivers can be quite different when it comes to contracting.

“Every market is unique in its own way. You have to recognise that there are market variances in the way business is carried out, distinctive cultures and customs, and the way the supply chain works is also different. A contractor has to recognise these differences very quickly and adapt. Often contractors enter a market without the willingness or the ability to conform and integrate,” says Merehbi.

ACC has expanded from the Middle East, establishing a strong base in Egypt, and also into South Asia with work in Pakistan in the 1990s, and then in India in the 2010s. The firm also took steps to enter the European market with work in Cyprus and is now pursuing projects in Greece. ACC is also active in Africa with projects such as the ministerial complex in Benin. 

Rather than entering new markets as a management contractor that relies on managing local contractors, for ACC, entering new markets is a major commitment that requires investment in local operations. 

“Contracting carries a lot of risks. Relying on third parties to execute the majority of construction activity creates high uncertainties. We pay particular attention to the reputational impact of our projects and prefer to execute our own works,” says Merehbi. 

“While there are undoubtedly reputable companies in various disciplines, executing through the project management methodology still leaves some exposure. So instead of managing someone else’s execution strategy, we would rather make our own and manage our own team.”

Self-performing is important in markets where supply chains do not cover the entire spectrum of services, such as in some African countries.

“ACC has fully deployed in Africa. We operate there as we do in any of our other markets. We go through the full process and cycle of hiring, training and monitoring. That is what being a contractor is about,” says Merehbi. 

Financing is also a key element of  winning work in Africa, although Merehbi says this is no different from other markets.

“Financing is a key element in every market,” he says. “In certain areas with a growing economy, funding is more easily available. In other areas, the contractor may be required to contribute to the funding.”

Instead of managing someone else’s execution strategy, we would rather make our own and manage our own team

Raising finance

Funding projects has become more challenging with rising interest rates, but Merehbi expects a mixed impact depending on the nature of the project.

“There are short- or medium-term projects that require early pay back and profit generation and then there are projects that are inherent to a country’s infrastructure and capture economic benefits over a longer period. Higher interest rates affect categories of projects differently,” he says.

“For example, if you are building a hospital that is state-run, then the government’s primary objective is to supply the medical services, and if it can afford it, then it will go ahead and do it. Commercial profit would not be the primary objective in this case. A private developer will probably take a different approach; if the funding becomes too expensive it may choose to postpone the project.”  

As market dynamics change, selecting the right projects will remain critical. This is particularly important for ACC as the business, unlike many of its competitors, is still privately held. 

“We are a family business. We are managing family assets. If the project makes commercial sense, we will go for it. We will take the risks that contractors are expected to take; it is part of the job, but we are not driven by accumulation of backlog for end-of-year reporting,” says Merehbi.

This article has been unlocked to allow non-subscribers to sample MEED’s content. MEED provides exclusive news, data and analysis on the Middle East every day. For access to MEED’s business intelligence, subscribe here

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10378440/main4841.gif
Colin Foreman

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • EY bids low for Al-Dur 3 consultancy

    31 May 2023

    UK-based consultancy Ernst & Young has submitted the lowest bid for the consultancy contract for Bahrain’s next independent water and power producer (IWPP) scheme Al-Dur 3.

    It offered BD681,689 ($1.8m) for the contract to provide advisory services to the client for the project.

    The other bidding team, headed by KPMG Fakhro, offered BD758,072 for the contract.

    Bahrain’s Electricity & Water Authority (EWA) opened the technical bids for the consultancy contract in September 2022, as MEED reported.

    The Al-Dur 3 IWPP is expected to consist of a combined-cycle gas turbine plant with a capacity of 1,500MW-1,800MW and a seawater desalination plant with a capacity of approximately 50 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD).

    The power generation and water desalination plants are expected to produce early power and water in the summer of 2027, with full commercial operation in summer 2028.

    Al-Dur 3 will be Bahrain’s fourth independent utility scheme. 

    Al-Dur 2

    An earlier project, the Al-Dur 2 IWPP,  started full operations in June last year.

    EWA selected a team led by Saudi-based utilities developer Acwa Power to develop the project in 2018.

    The power generation plant is equipped with combined-cycle gas turbines and has a design capacity of 1,500MW.

    The desalination plant uses seawater reverse osmosis technology and can treat up to 227,000 cubic metres of water a day.

    The special project vehicle, Haya Power & Desalination Company, comprises Acwa Power, which maintains a 60 per cent share, Japan’s Mitsui with a 30 per cent holding and the local Almoayyed Contracting Group with a 10 per cent stake.

    A consortium of China’s Sepco 3, Power China and France’s Sidem was selected as the project’s engineering, procurement and construction contractor, while Acwa Power subsidiary Noma is the operation and maintenance contractor.

    The latest available figures show that Bahrain hit a peak capacity of 3,418MW in September 2018 against available system generation availability of 4,158MW.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10899780/main.gif
    Jennifer Aguinaldo
  • Leading Mena banks give little ground in 2023

    30 May 2023

     

    The past year has seen significant upheavals in the ranking of the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region’s largest listed banks due to a combination of market conditions, mergers, acquisitions and new listings, according to the 2023 MEED Top 100 companies list.

    Weakening international investor sentiment amid higher interest rates, and concerns over the collapse of several US and Swiss banks, has perhaps been the most prominent factor in their performance.

    In a trend largely independent of actual performance, which regional banks have generally improved in the 2022-23 fiscal year – both in terms of gross revenue and the bottom line – many banks have found their market values reduced, with banks in the MEED Top 100 companies list shedding more than $85bn in value.

    Regional ranking

    Despite this, Al-Rajhi Bank and Saudi National Bank, although temporarily diminished in overall market capitalisation, remain the top two banks in the region by value, as they were in 2022. 

    In third place now is QNB, having just edged ahead of First Abu Dhabi Bank in value terms. Fifth place is occupied by Kuwait Finance House, which has risen significantly in value over the past year through its full acquisition of Ahli United Bank in a share swap transaction, displacing Riyad Bank.

    National Bank of Kuwait, Emirates NBD, Saudi Awwal Bank (formerly Saudi British Bank) and Alinma Bank remain in the same relative positions as last year.

    Outside of the top 10 regional banks, two improvers have been Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Mashreq Bank, both of which have seen their market capitalisation rise by about $2.5bn. In the case of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, its performance rose after reporting a 55 per cent rise in profits in 2022 and a further 43 per cent rise in profits in the first quarter of 2023.

    Mashreq Bank meanwhile announced a 270 per cent leap in its 2022 profits to $1bn, and a further 163 per cent surge in profits in the first quarter of 2023. Both banks have overtaken numerous peers in terms of equity market value.

    Qatar’s Dukhan bank joined the MEED Top 100 for the first time as a newly listed bank, having joined the Qatar Stock Exchange with a direct listing in February 2023. 

    Several major regional banks fell short of the list, the bar for which rose significantly in 2023 to a market capitalisation of $3.7bn.

    Middle East equities hold largely steady

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10897113/main.gif
    John Bambridge
  • Middle East equities hold largely steady

    30 May 2023

     

    The value of the top listed firms in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region held largely steady during the 2022-23 financial year as international investor sentiment wavered over the state of the global economy.

    Viewed through the lens of the MEED Top 100, an annual ranking of the largest Mena-listed companies, the market capitalisation of the top 100 companies stands at $3.83tn, having edged up by a slight 1.6 per cent from the $3.77tn in MEED’s 2022 listing.

    This almost static scenario contrasts with buoyant growth the previous year, when the region’s top stocks leapt in value by 23.4 per cent from only slightly above the $3bn mark amid higher oil prices and post-Covid growth optimism.

    The relative stability of the list also belies some significant downward sliding in the value of oil and gas companies, amid lower oil price projections, and banks, amid higher interest rates and the global banking concerns following the crises at several US and Swiss institutions. The value of Saudi Aramco alone, which accounts for about 55 per cent of the list’s total value, dipped by more than $200bn.

    Growth areas

    The value loss has been balanced by growth in other areas, including telecommunications and real estate – the latter having been particularly supported by a strong recovery in the UAE property market. New entries have also been added to the list following a spree of high-value initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2022 and 2023.

    Notwithstanding the overweighted presence of Saudi Aramco, the banking sector remains the largest contributor to the list, with 34 entities worth a combined $553bn. 

    There are also 16 utilities and telecoms companies worth a combined $369bn; 12 other oil and gas companies besides Saudi Aramco, worth a combined $234bn; and 21 companies in other areas of industry, including manufacturing, construction and logistics, worth a combined $206bn. 

    There are also 10 companies involved in services such as healthcare, retail and technology provision, worth $86bn, and six holding companies making up $270bn. The latter are led by Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company (IHC), which is valued at $234bn after several years of value growth.

    IPO activity

    The Mena region had an exceptionally strong 2022 for IPOs, with regional stock exchanges seeing a total of 51 listings raise $22bn, close to a quarter of the $90bn raised on equity markets worldwide, according to a report by EY. Overall, it was 143 per cent more listings and 179 per cent more value than in 2021.

    While global IPO activity experienced a decline in both volume and value compared to the previous year, the Mena region remained strong. Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia stand out in terms of the number and value of their recent listings.

    Abu Dhabi had two record-breaking IPOs, first with Borouge in June 2022, in an offering that raised $2bn, and then with Adnoc Gas in March 2023, which raised $2.5bn. 

    Saudi Arabia also went on a listing spree in the fourth quarter of 2022, with seven IPOs on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) raising $4.7bn in proceeds. The largest came from Saudi Aramco Base Oil Company (Luberef), which raised $1.3bn. The Tadawul saw its first dual listing, with the UAE’s Americana Restaurants listing on both the Saudi and Abu Dhabi exchanges in December in an IPO that raised $1.8bn.

    The 2023 MEED Top 100 list also incorporates the September 2022 listing of Dubai’s road toll system Salik on the Dubai Financial Market, which raised $1bn; the November 2022 listing of Saudi utility company Marafiq, which secured $897m; the November 2022 listing of Dubai’s Empower, which garnered $724m; and the March 2023 listing of Abu Dhabi’s Presight AI, which brought in $496m.

    The region has largely retained its IPO momentum heading into 2023, with the first quarter seeing 10 new listings raising a total of $3.4bn. Despite a 33 per cent drop in the number of IPOs and a 14 per cent decrease in value compared to the first quarter of 2022, the region outperformed the global market, which saw a 61 per cent drop in IPO volume to 299 IPOs for the quarter, raising $21.5bn.

    Uncertainties over the global economic outlook nevertheless continue to weigh on the markets in 2023, and the GDP forecasts for the Mena region are generally lower than in 2022. Despite these brakes on activity, there is optimism for an ongoing pipeline of large government-backed and private IPOs.

    Major upcoming IPOs include the offering of 15 per cent of the shares of Adnoc Logistics & Services through an IPO on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange, scheduled for June 1. 

    The listing of Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Global Aluminium is also still on the cards, as is the potential listing of Saudi Arabia’s First Mills on the Tadawul. Abu Dhabi-based Lulu Group is also considering a dual listing in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.

     

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10896832/main.gif
    John Bambridge
  • Contractors prepare Oxagon tunnelling bids

    30 May 2023

     

    Contractors are preparing to submit bids in June for a contract to build tunnels connecting the offshore elements of the Oxagon industrial city at Neom to the mainland.

    The design-and-build contract involves digging a 6.5-metre-diameter tunnel using a tunnel boring machine (TBM) under the sea that will link the Neom Connector with the offshore elements of Oxagon port. It will house utilities including water pipelines, fibre optic cables and electricity cables.

    Prospective bidders for the contract include:

    • Abuljadayel Company (local)
    • Bessac (France)
    • Binladin Contracting (local)
    • Daewoo (South Korea)
    • Dogus (Turkey)
    • Hassan Allam (Egypt)
    • Petrojet (Egypt)
    • Saudi Pan Kingdom Company (Sapac)
    • Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Company (China)
    • Soletanche Bachy (France)

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched Oxagon in late 2021. It will include onshore elements as well as floating structures offshore. Construction works on the 48 square-kilometre, eight-sided industrial city have already started.

    Port construction

    Work is also under way for the industrial city’s port, with Neom tendering a contract to complete the next phase of the Duba port expansion at Oxagon industrial city.

    The prospective bidders are Belgium’s Deme with Greece’s Archirodon; Van Oord of the Netherlands with South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction; a Belgian joint venture of Jan de Nul and Besix; Netherlands-based Boskalis with France’s Soletanche Bachy; and China Harbour Engineering Company.

    The tender for the project’s second phase follows the award of a contract to deliver the first phase of the port expansion. A team of Boskalis, Besix and the local Modern Building Leaders (MBL) was awarded that estimated SR3bn ($800m) contract in mid-January.

    The scope of the Duba port expansion package includes excavation and dredging, revetments for channel widening, demolition, container terminal quay expansion and earthworks, in addition to the development of a flexible quay, a roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) berth and quay walls to a marine services berth and a coast guard facility.

    Jacobs is the main design consultant with Moffatt & Nichol, IGO and Trent as the main subconsultants.

    Port operations

    Several crane and container equipment contracts have been awarded to Saudi Liebherr Company and Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company (ZPMC).

    Saudi Liebherr was awarded contracts for 10 mobile harbour cranes for SR200m.

    ZPMC has been awarded contracts for 10 ship-to-shore gantry cranes, 30 electric rubber-tiered gantry cranes and six automated rail-mounted gantry cranes for over SR1bn. ZPMC will work with Siemens Europe to deliver the automation components. 

    An expanded Duba port is a critical component of Oxagon and the broader Neom development, as it will allow greater volumes of materials to be imported for the project. With an expected investment value of $500bn, Neom is the largest programme of construction work in the world.

    Neom says the first container terminal will be operational by the beginning of 2025.

    The management of Duba port was transferred from national maritime regulator Mawani to Neom in 2022.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10895791/main.jpeg
    Colin Foreman
  • Dewa commissions Lusaily reservoir

    30 May 2023

    Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has announced that it has commissioned the third phase of its water reservoirs in the Lusaily area.

    The project has a storage capacity of 60 million imperial gallons (MIG) and investments totalling AED157.4m ($42.9m).

    Dewa says the project supports its efforts to enhance water security and keep pace with the increase in demand.

    “We continue to strengthen our robust state-of-the-art infrastructure and adopt innovation and the latest tools for anticipating the future,” says Saeed Mohammed al-Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dewa.

    “This supports the Dubai Integrated Water Resource Management Strategy 2030 and the UAE Water Security Strategy 2036. Our sound scientific planning has helped us keep pace with the growing demand for water in Dubai, according to the highest international standards.

    “In 1992, Dewa’s production capacity of desalinated water was 65 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD). Today it has increased to 490MIGD,” he adds.

    Dewa also confirmed its plans to commission other reservoirs in Dubai this year.

    “In addition to the water reservoir in Lusaily, we are working on three other reservoir projects in Nakhali, Hassyan and Hatta. These are expected to be completed this year and next year. With the completion of these projects, the storage capacity will increase from 881MIG currently to 1,151MIG of desalinated water,” says Al-Tayer.

    The local Ghantoot Gulf Contracting was awarded the contract to build the third phase of the Lusaily reservoir in 2018.

    Ghantoot was also working on another major Dewa project. However, in October 2022 Dewa said it had terminated its contract with the consortium Ghantoot Transport & General Contracting and Ghantoot Gulf Contracting on its Al-Sheraa headquarters building project in Dubai.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10895790/main.gif
    Colin Foreman