Nov 8 2006
The USD 5-billion Emirates Aluminium (EMAL), a joint venture between Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Company and Dubai Aluminium Company DUBAL, announced three major decisions taken by senior officials of both the organizations at the fifth JSC meeting held recently in Abu Dhabi
The JSC appointed Citigroup as financial advisors for EMAL and having reviewed the results of the EMAL feasibility study, they also signed a land allocation agreement with Abu Dhabi Ports Company located at the Khalifa Port & Industrial Zone in Taweelah . The meeting was jointly chaired by HE Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, CEO & Managing Director of Mubadala, and Mr. Abdullah Jasim bin Kalban, CEO, DUBAL, and was attended by senior officials from both the organizations.
The Mubadala-DUBAL alliance enjoys the direct support of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council, and Chairman of Mubadala, and His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, the UAE Minister for Finance and Industry and Chairman of DUBAL.
The first phase of the EMAL project will be operational in 2010 with around 700,000-tons annual capacity. Upon completion of all phases, the smelter will have a capacity of 1.4 million tons, which will make it the largest single site aluminium smelter in the world.
HE Al Mubarak said: “Citigroup has been appointed as the financial advisors for the DUBAL-Mubadala venture with the financial close to be expected during 2007. Moreover, the JSC has also approved a project budget of USD350-million for 2007 to ensure that key milestones are achieved”.
“We are optimistic that the involvement of both DUBAL and Mubadala will ensure the pace of progress on EMAL will be rapid. We are also extremely pleased that the two majors – DUBAL and Mubadala – in their respective areas of specialized operations are contributing their best to the project,” remarked HE Al Mubarak.
The ownership of the project is to be shared equally between DUBAL and Mubadala as per the Heads of Agreement signed in February of this year.
Mr. Kalban thanked Mr Ahmed Calily, Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi Ports Company for his co-operation in allocating not only the land but ensuring that other key dedicated facilities of the Jetty will be made available for this key project.
“EMAL will be using the latest DX technology for aluminium production which has been developed in-house by DUBAL over many years of refinement in their own environment, this is an excellent example of industrial cooperation between DUBAL and Mubadala to create a world-class player in the aluminium industry which the UAE can be proud of,” remarked Mr. Kalban.
With the three key aspects having now been covered by DUBAL and Mubadala, Emirates Aluminium now enters a new and exciting phase and on completion will lead to economic diversification, employment generation and raise competitiveness of the local and regional aluminium industry.