São Paulo – This Monday (3rd), the state-owned Mubadala Development Company, based in Abu Dhabi, and sovereign fund Investment Corporation of Dubai have announced the creation of Emirates Global Aluminium, a company valued at US$ 15 billion that should become the fifth leading aluminium manufacturer in the world. Operations are due to start in the first half of 2014. The information was released by Emirates News Agency (WAM). In actuality, the two emirates are merging their aluminium business, which are in themselves large.
The new company will be a joint venture composed of Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) and Emirates Aluminium (Emal). Each of the partners will retain a 50% share. According to WAM, the company’s establishment follows a successful partnership initiated in 2006 with the creation of Emal, a joint venture between Mubadala and Dubal.
According to WAM, Emirates Global Aluminium will expand its value chain. Its activities will range from aluminium smelting to alumina refining and bauxite mining around the world. The new company is also expected to create indirect jobs.
“The creation of a new global industrial champion anchored in the UAE is an important step towards realizing our vision for a diversified and sustainable economy,” said Mubadala’s CEO and Emal’s chairman Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak.
“Emirates Global Aluminium will accelerate employment with 2,000 direct jobs being created by 2020, adding to more than 6,200 direct jobs already in existence. We also conservatively estimate that a further 6,000 indirect jobs will be generated, delivering total employment of over 33,000 people by the UAE aluminium sector through the end of this decade,” said Mohammed Al Shaibani, CEO of Investment Corporation of Dubai, the controller of Dubal.
The signing ceremony to establish the new company was attended by Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the vice president of the Emirates and ruler of Dubai, and by Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Abu Dhabi heir prince.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
