UAE’s Dubal Holding Looks Into Buying Stakes In Energy Projects

Dubal Holding, the holding company for Dubai’s stake in Emirates Global Aluminium and other assets, is considering possible acquisitions in local and international energy projects, it said on Monday.

The firm was looking for equity interests related to coal, solar, gas, and other alternative sources of energy, Abdulnasser bin Kalban, chief executive of Dubal Holding, said in a statement following the company’s inaugural annual general meeting.

Kalban said this would fit in with the aim of Dubal Holding, wholly owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, to take a leading role in Dubai in terms of investment in energy, mining, commodities and other industrial projects.

Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) merged in 2013 with Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Aluminium to create Emirates Global Aluminium, the world’s fifth-largest aluminium company with an enterprise value of about $15 billion.

Dubal in January said it had raised a $1.8 billion seven-year loan for general business purposes.

Emirates Global Aluminium, in its first full year of operations, generated a net income of 3.7 billion dirhams ($1.01 billion) in 2014, up by around 75 percent on the combined income of Dubal and Emal in the previous year, a separate statement from EGA said.

This growth was supported by the completion of the Emal expansion project and cost savings, the statement said.

Emirates Global Aluminium produces 2.4 million tonnes of aluminium products per year.