Riyadh-based utilities developer Acwa Power, which counts Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund as a stakeholder, is looking to bid on around $4 billion worth of projects for the rest of 2018, its chief executive said.
"We submitted the lowest tender for an Egyptian PV [photovoltaic] plant, [and] the lowest bid for the desalination plant Rabigh 3 in Saudi Arabia. Before the end of this year, we have half a dozen tenders going," Paddy Padmanathan told The National.
Acwa Power, a leading developer of renewable projects in the Middle East and North Africa, is 25 per cent owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The sovereign wealth fund increased its stake in the developer last month, an indication that Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, is increasingly pivoting towards cleaner energy. PIF has also built a five per cent stake in electric vehicles manufacturer Tesla.
Acwa Power signed a memorandum of understanding last week to form an $8bn joint venture with partner Saudi Aramco as well as US-based Air Products to develop gasification facilities in the Jazan Economic City on the Red Sea coast.
Mr Padmanathan declined to comment on Acwa Power’s stake in the joint venture saying it had “not yet been defined”. Air Products has the majority 55 per cent stake in the project. Mr Padmanathan also declined to comment on the timeline for completion of the joint venture.
PIF’s increased stake in the developer has not had an impact on the firm’s capital expenditure plans for the current year, said Mr Padmanathan.
“We have a very strong shareholder increasing their participation, so we have become an even stronger company," he said. "We already had the capacity to take on large projects as we’ve been demonstrating over the last decade, so it just strengthens our capacity to continue to grow."
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Read more:
Saudi Aramco forms $8bn joint venture with Acwa and Air Products
Acwa to co-invest in South Africa as Ramaphosa gets $10bn in Saudi investment pledge
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund increases stake in Acwa Power
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Acwa Power, which won Saudi Arabia's first renewable project, the 300 Megawatt PV project at Sakaka in the northern Al Jouf area, is currently one of the shortlisted bidders for the kingdom's first ever wind project.
The developer alongside France's EDF Energies Nouvelles, Italy's Enel Green Power and France's Engie are the four companies that bid on the planned $500 million scheme to develop a 400MW wind farm in Dumat Al Jandal.
Saudi Arabia is ramping up efforts to develop its renewables programme, with an estimated 4GW worth of tenders to be launched this year, as it looks to free up more oil for export.
However, only two tenders have so far been issued by the newly established Renewable Energy Project Development Office (Repdo).
Mr Padmanathan said he expected tenders to come through, even though the market had not been briefed on specific timelines.
“Things have taken a little bit longer than anticipated but now that everything is moving, I expect everything to progress step by step now according to the original pace of activity,” he said.
Acwa Power last month signed an agreement with South Africa's Central Energy Fund to co-invest in a 100MW concentrated solar power project in the country's North Cape province.
The%20specs
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Correspondents
By Tim Murphy
(Grove Press)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
Results:
CSIL 2-star 145cm One Round with Jump-Off
1. Alice Debany Clero (USA) on Amareusa S 38.83 seconds
2. Anikka Sande (NOR) For Cash 2 39.09
3. Georgia Tame (GBR) Cash Up 39.42
4. Nadia Taryam (UAE) Askaria 3 39.63
5. Miriam Schneider (GER) Fidelius G 47.74
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Abramovich London
A Kensington Palace Gardens house with 15 bedrooms is valued at more than £150 million.
A three-storey penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront bought for £22 million.
Steel company Evraz drops more than 10 per cent in trading after UK officials said it was potentially supplying the Russian military.
Sale of Chelsea Football Club is now impossible.
How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
