ACWA Power Increases Its Shareholding to 74% in RAWEC

ACWA Power Increases Its Shareholding to 74% in RAWEC
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ACWA Power Increases Its Shareholding to 74% in RAWEC

ACWA Power Increases Its Shareholding to 74% in RAWEC

Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power announced the completion of the acquisition of certain shares and debt instruments of Japan’s Marubeni Corporation in Rabigh Arabian Water & Electricity Company as well as certain shares owned by Marubeni in RAWEC’s Operations & Maintenance Company known as Rabigh Power Company.

With that, ACWA Power increased its shareholding to 74 percent in RAWEC after buying all of Marubeni’s stake.

RAWEC is the captive utility provider to Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company (“Petro Rabigh Corporation”), a joint venture formed in 2005 between Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical and Saudi Aramco which owns, operates, and manages the Rabigh petrochemical complex. The complex comprises of integrated oil refining and petrochemical operations that produce a variety of refined petroleum and petrochemical products at Rabigh in the Kingdom.

RAWEC owns and operates a conventional thermal power plant and desalination facility with a total installed capacity of 840 MW Power, 6,110 t/h Steam and 12,000 t/h Water, situated approximately 160 km north of Jeddah.

According to ACWA Power’s statement, RAWEC supplies the utilities to Petro Rabigh under a long term take. RAWEC plant comprises of two phases which were commissioned in 2008 and 2016 that run as an integrated operation and is also synchronized to the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) electricity grid providing a non-stop and highly reliable utility supply to Petro Rabigh Corporation.

RPC is a company responsible for the operations and maintenance of the RAWEC plant as per a long term agreement signed with RAWEC.

The purchase of the target securities was carried out pursuant to certain pre-emptive and other rights that ACWA Power had with respect to the shares held by other shareholders in RAWEC and RPC.

Accordingly, ACWA Power exercised its rights in May 2018 and the physical securities transfer was consummated on March 13, 2019, after securing various consents and completing other regulatory processes.

President & CEO of ACWA Power Paddy Padmanathan commented on the acquisition saying the purchase of additional shares in RAWEC and RPC to increase the existing majority ownership demonstrates the company’s confidence in this utility complex and its desire to further strengthen the partnership with its key client Petro Rabigh Corporation.

CIO of ACWA Power Rajit Nanda noted that by acquiring Marubeni’s Shares in RAWEC and RPC “we intend to build upon our recent successes in the power generation and water desalination sector in the kingdom and the rest of the world and consolidate our position as a major power and water utilities provider to creditworthy energy-intensive industrial customers like Petro Rabigh Corporation.”



Gold Gains on Safe-haven Demand as Trump Expands Trade War

FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
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Gold Gains on Safe-haven Demand as Trump Expands Trade War

FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo

Gold prices rose for a third straight session on Friday, as US President Donald Trump's announcement of new tariffs on Canada and broader tariff threats against other trading partners lifted demand for the safe-haven asset.
Spot gold was up 0.5% to $3,339.99 per ounce, as of 0755 GMT. US gold futures gained 0.8% to $3,351.
"We're seeing some growing demand for gold as a haven. There are investors looking for some safety asset despite stock markets hitting highs. And any dip in gold is seen as a buying opportunity now," said Carlo Alberto De Casa, an external analyst at Swissquote.
On Thursday, Trump said US would impose a 35% tariff on imports from Canada and planned to impose blanket duties of 15% or 20% on most other trade partners, Reuters said.
This follows Wednesday's announcement of a 50% tariff on US copper imports and a similar levy on goods from Brazil, along with tariff notifications sent earlier to other trading partners.
Trump also said the European Union could receive a letter on tariff rates by Friday, throwing into question the progress of trade talks between Washington and the 27-nation bloc.
"Rising trade tensions have reinvigorated demand for haven assets such as gold amid the prospect of an economic slowdown. The more dovish Fed is also boosting investor appetite," analysts at ANZ wrote in a note.
Data on Thursday showed weekly jobless claims in the US fell unexpectedly to a seven-week low, indicating stable employment levels.
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller on Thursday reiterated his belief the central bank could cut interest rates at its policy meeting later this month.
Meanwhile, Fed Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said two rate cuts remain on the table for this year.
Lower rates boost non-yielding gold's appeal.
Elsewhere, spot silver rose 0.9% to $37.37 per ounce, platinum fell 1% to $1,346.81 and palladium climbed 1.3% to $1,156.44.