In a significant development designed to expedite the development of the multi-billion dollar Energy City-Qatar, Gulf Finance House (GFH), lead financial advisors to the project, Sunday announced the launch of a US$276.5 million private placement issue that will offer approximately 20 per cent yearly returns to investors.
The private placement will allow prospective investors to take part in the development of Energy City-Qatar by acquiring stake in Gulf Energy Holding Company, newly established to steer the development of the integrated project in Doha.
Announcing the launch of the private placement, Mr. Esam Janahi, Chief Executive Officer of GFH said: “The private placement has been floated in strategic partnership with leading regional financial institutions including Kuwait Investment Company (KIC) and Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH) to offer 27,650,000 shares at US$10 each. The proceeds from the private placement will be utlised to fund the development of Energy City-Qatar by the project’s new holding company.”
Energy City-Qatar is promoted by Gulf Energy, a global consortium of leading energy consultants and major investors from the Gulf, United States, Europe, and South East Asia. In October this year, Gulf Energy unveiled the master plan for the first phase of the project which will be developed at an investment of US$1.6 billion. Positioned as the first-ever integrated business energy centre in the Gulf & MENA region, Energy City-Qatar aims at significantly enhancing the Gulf region’s ability to capture critical revenue streams from above-ground resources and services in the oil and gas sector, and act as an integrated centre for the industry in the region.
The proposed clusters in the first phase of the project include an; oil and gas producers centre which would target IOC’s and NOC.s; oil and gas focused technology centre; shipping and trading centre; service industry centre; infrastructure and downstream centre; and an information, press and associations centre.
“We are extremely confident of the enthusiastic uptake of the private placement offer by investors considering that the Energy City-Qatar is being developed in Qatar, an economy that has been booming over the past 20 years thanks to its rich oil and gas resources and rising industrial investment,” Mr. Janahi said.
“As an infrastructure asset class, Energy City-Qatar will also maximise returns to investors, since Qatar property values are on a boom cycle after a phase of undervaluation, due thanks to comprehensive reforms initiated by the government in this sector,” he added.
Commenting on the private placement, Mr. Bader Nasser Alsubaiee, Chairman and Managing Director of KIC said: “We are proud to be the strategic partners in the private placement offer since it is in line with our corporate strategy to offer growth-oriented investment avenues to our investors. Energy City-Qatar is an unparalleled project and we are confident of its long-term value in sustained and long-term growth in returns.”
He said the ROI from the placement has been calculated at approximately 20 per cent a year. “The minimum subscription in the placement is pegged at US$100,000 with subsequent investments in multiples of US$50,000. The full subscription of the placement will entail an equity ownership of 82.92 per cent in Gulf Energy Holding Company while the rest of the stake will be with Gulf Energy consortium at 13.93 per cent and GFH at 3.15 per cent,” he said.
Terming its involvement in the placement as a strategic and growth-focused step, Mr. Rashad Yousuf Janahi, Chief Executive Officer of ADIH said: “As a newly established financial institution, our involvement in the placement comes as a milestone development in our growth strategy. ADIH is focused on unlocking the investment potential in the region and we believe the Energy City-Qatar placement will enable us to maximise investment returns for our investors.”
