DMCC welcomes Shalina Group’s move to Almas Tower

The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (“DMCC”), the licensing authority for the Jumeirah Lakes Towers (“JLT”) Free Zone, announced today that Shalina Group (“Shalina” or the “Group”), a West-African-focused mining and healthcare company with 3,000 employees across six African countries, has moved its global operations to JLT.

Shalina Group will be headquartered in Almas Tower, JLT’s purpose-built flagship tower and the tallest commercial tower in the Middle East. The Group has operating offices in the UK, Africa and Asia and JLT will act as the primary base for both of its wholly-owned subsidiaries: Shalina Resources, a copper mining and production company, and Shalina Healthcare, a pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution business. Shalina Group is part of a growing number of African-focused companies joining DMCC.

Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of DMCC,commented: “DMCC’s ability to support a company with such a wide-ranging portfolio of businesses is indicative of the depth and breadth of the services we offer.We have built upon the success of our initial commodity-focused mandate to create a unique business environment that facilitates the growth of industries crucial to the development of the UAE as both a geographic and economic hub. The addition of Shalina Group to our member-baseis further evidenceof our ability to attract a diverse range of top-tier international companies to both our free zone and Almas Tower.

“We witnessed increased interest and activity from African companies this yearas trade between the UAE and the continent continues to grow. The UAE’s overall trade with six non-Arab African countries alone reached US$ 6.2 billion in 2010[1] and is expected to grow further this year. In commodities, Dubai’s diamond trade for example is recording growing trade with new African markets such as Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Moreover, DMCC provides these African companies with the ideal platform to connect them with the wider trade and consumer markets in the Middle East and Asia, especially China.We look forward to further strengthening our relationswith Africa in 2012.”

Shalina Group is a privately owned company founded in 1981 as a wholesale pharmacy producing high quality but low cost medicines for the African market. It first opened in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Thirty years later, the company has expanded its operations to include cobalt mining and mineral processing, covers six countries including Ghana, Nigeria and Angola and is pursuing an aggressive expansion plan.