FourWinds plans $500m Abu Dhabi aluminium project and educational complex investment

The privately-held FourWinds Group of Companies plans to develop an aluminium project and an educational complex in Abu Dhabi for a total cost of about US$500 million.

The group is keen to expand its operations in Abu Dhabi’s industrial sector, particularly in the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad), a free zone that houses the smelter Emirates Aluminium (Emal) and Khalifa Port.

FourWinds, which invests in property, infrastructure, industry and natural resources, is focused on the automotive parts industry in Abu Dhabi.

“We have a strategy in aluminium and we are negotiating an [aluminium] facility in the proximity of Emal to actually manufacture again for the automotive industry certain aluminium components. We are already negotiating offtake agreements with certain buyers in Europe at the moment,” said Vivek Rao, the chief executive of FourWinds Capital Management and acting chief executive of FourWinds project development.

That project, to be located in Kizad, will cost between US$250 million and $300m.

FourWinds is also looking at investing in education in Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with institutions from the United States and Europe. Its schools project, which will target the local Emirati population, is expected to cost as much as Dh800m.

The FourWinds investment is one of a series of initiatives in Abu Dhabi to boost the contribution of the non-oil sector to the economy, create downstream industries and jobs.

According to the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, the non-oil sector is expected to contribute 64 per cent of GDP by 2030.

Non-oil activities contributed 45 per cent to the emirate’s GDP in 2013, versus 43 per cent in 2012, according to the Economic Report of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi 2014.

Elsewhere in the region, FourWinds plans to invest in a billet and rebars manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia at a cost of about 700m Saudi riyals (Dh685.4m). The plant will provide rollings mills with products and could also export to the region, which has a big construction industry, Mr Rao said.

But FourWinds’ biggest investment in the region is an $11bn project to build the world’s largest single-site coal-fired power plant at a capacity of 6000 megawatts in Egypt. The project, which was announced at the investment conference Egypt the Future in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El Sheikh last month, is in partnership with FourWinds’ parent company, Tharwa Investments.

The project, which will be built in phases, is expected to be financed by Tharwa, FourWinds, banks and export credit agencies (Ecas), such as the Korean and Japanese Ecas.