Saudi Dussur Signs 4 Joint Ventures, Global Acquisition Deal

The Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments (Dussur) announced the signing of five new shareholders' agreements, including four joint ventures and one global acquisition deal.

Dussur, owned by PIF, Aramco, and SABIC, signed the agreement at a special event attended by Minister of Energy and Investment Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar al-Khorayef, Minister of Education Hamad al-Sheikh.

The event was held at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC).

The first JV agreement was signed with Korea's SeAH Changwon Integrated Specialty Steel Co. Ltd (SeAH) to establish the first local seamless stainless-steel pipe production plant in Saudi Arabia.

The total investment for establishing the joint venture is estimated at $270 million. SeAH and Dussur will invest up to $140 million with a percentage share of 51 percent and 49 percent, respectively.

The Saudi Industrial Development Fund will provide the remaining financing for the joint venture.

The second joint venture agreement was signed between Dussur, Tatweer Educational Transportation Services Company, and CHTC KINWIN Automobile to establish the first state-of-the-art bus manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia with an annual production capacity of 3000 buses.

The project is in line with Vision 2030 and is significant as it is the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia and will support the localization of the automotive industry and the development of the automotive ecosystem.

The Jeddah-based joint venture company will manufacture and assemble several bus models in the first phase, using three engine technologies: Internal combustion engine, pure electrical, and hydrogen fuel cell.

The company will primarily serve the growing local demand, which is currently met by imports, and the growing demand for buses for Hajj and Umrah, schools, tourism, and public transportation.

The third JV agreement announced at the event was between Dussur and 3D Systems to establish the Center for Innovation and Additive Manufacturing in the Kingdom.

It will provide on-demand printing and application engineering solutions for critical industries such as energy, aerospace, defense, and healthcare.

The initiative will support the Kingdom's path to industrialization by localizing disruptive technologies, contributing to supply security, and building unique capabilities for future jobs.

Dussur and Baker Hughes signed the fourth joint venture agreement to build a blending and chemical reaction facility with a production capacity of 30,000 tons to produce demulsifiers, scale inhibitors, corrosion inhibitors, and biocides.

The facility will be located in Jubail City, Saudi Arabia.

Dussur also announced the successful completion of an acquisition agreement with the international private equity consortium Broad Peak Global (BPG) and Asia Green Fund (AGF) to acquire the Clean Technologies business of DuPont de Nemours.

The new, independent company will be named Elessent Clean Technologies. It is worth noting that the new company is a global leader in chemical catalysts and advanced equipment, specializing in environmental sustainability technologies in the metals, fertilizer, chemicals, and oil refining sectors.

CEO of Dussur Raed al-Rayes stated that the company measures the development impact of projects before investing.

Rayes explained that Dussur portfolio has managed to attract more than SR1 billion worth of foreign investment and create more than 2,600 direct jobs by 2030, with an employment nationalization of no less than 65 percent, reaching as high as 90 percent in some projects.

The Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Company is a strategic industrial investment firm that partners with world-class experts to form state-of-the-art joint ventures, including M&A in the industrial sectors.

Recent political events in Türkiye stymied the country's path to slowing inflation and the fallout affected the economy as well as foreign exchange reserves, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's chief economist said.

The detention of Istanbul mayor and main opposition leader Ekrem Imamoglu on March 19 sent the lira sharply lower and triggered market turmoil that pushed the central bank into a surprise interest rate hike in April, short circuiting an easing cycle that began at the start of the year.

Türkiye had been on a "slow but steady" path towards reducing inflation before the event, EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik told Reuters.

"This path allowed it to cut interest rates, but that process was stopped by the recent political events, which brought turbulence and forced the central bank to reverse the direction," Javorcik said, adding raising interest rates put the brakes on the economy.

"This is costly in terms of economic performance, in terms of reserves ... and in terms of the reputational implications, undermining confidence of investors."

Türkiye has struggled with very high inflation in recent years, which peaked at 75% last May.

The bank downgraded its forecast for Türkiye’s economic growth this year by 0.5 percentage points to 2.8%, due to lower domestic and external demand and tighter-than-expected monetary policy.

Türkiye’s bonds and stock market had become a big draw for global money managers in the months leading up to Imamoglu's detention.

The appointment of Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek in 2023, widely seen as the architect of the government's return to a more orthodox economic policy, helped lure investors.

The EBRD said Türkiye’s central bank sold more than $40 billion in foreign exchange in the weeks following Imamoglu's arrest, pulling net reserves, excluding swaps, from more than $60 billion to less than $20 billion.

The latest reserve numbers, published on Monday, showed that Türkiye’s gross reserves had risen by $6 billion - the first such gain in nearly two months.

Saudi Dussur Signs 4 Joint Ventures, Global Acquisition Deal