By Sharen Kaur
sharen@mediaprima.com.my
Published in NST on April 2, 2013
Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd, controlled by businessman Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed, has emerged as the front runner for a US$200 million (RM620 million) contract to build houses in Saudi Arabia.
It is understood that the scope of the contract involves designing and building low-cost and high-end houses, as well as villas.
“We are talking to several big players in Saudi Arabia and in negotiations with them.
We hope to sign the deal soon,” Manchanda said, adding that if successful, construction works can commence by year-end.
The Saudi Bin Laden group and the Saudi Oger group are two of the biggest construction companies in the kingdom.
Manchanda said Maju is working with state-owned trade finance provider Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd to help it fund the project.
Maju is one of Malaysia’s largest privately held companies, with interest in construction, property, infrastructure, services and manufacturing businesses.
The company’s signature projects include the Terminal Bersepadu Selatan in Bandar Tasik Selatan and the Maju Expressway, which links Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Putrajaya to Kuala Lumpur.
Maju, formed in 1978, also owns Perwaja Holdings Bhd, Malaysia’s largest steel producer of upstream products.
If the company does manage to secure the Saudi contract, it will be following the footsteps of a host of other Malaysian companies that are banking on the kingdom as the new frontier for development in West Asia.
Saudi Arabia’s economy grew by 6.8 per cent last year and this has helped it achieve a per capita income of 93,317 riyal (RM77,000), its best on record. It is poised to expand slightly more than three per cent this year.
Its construction sector, the largest in the Middle East, is expected to grow at 32 per cent to 35 per cent year-on-year until 2015. Its construction and infrastructure sub-sectors grew by 177 per cent in 2012, BofA Merrill Lynch said in a July report last year.
Among the Malaysian companies that have a presence in Saudi Arabia are MMC Corp Bhd, a unit partly-owned by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, and Eversendai Corp Bhd. MMC won the rights to develop and manage the US$30 billion Jizan Economic City in 2006, while Eversendai is undertaking structural steel works for several towers there
.
sharen@mediaprima.com.my
Published in NST on April 2, 2013
Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd, controlled by businessman Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed, has emerged as the front runner for a US$200 million (RM620 million) contract to build houses in Saudi Arabia.
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If successful, this will be the company’s maiden development project outside of Malaysia.
Chief executive officer Ravi Manchanda confirmed that talks are ongoing. He, however, declined to reveal details on the project.
Maju formed Maju Holdings (Saudi Arabia) Ltd in 2009 with Trade House Group Holdings, a Riyadh-based family-owned business, which has been operating the Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us franchises in the kingdom since 1996.
It is understood that the scope of the contract involves designing and building low-cost and high-end houses, as well as villas.
“We are talking to several big players in Saudi Arabia and in negotiations with them.
We hope to sign the deal soon,” Manchanda said, adding that if successful, construction works can commence by year-end.
The Saudi Bin Laden group and the Saudi Oger group are two of the biggest construction companies in the kingdom.
Manchanda said Maju is working with state-owned trade finance provider Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd to help it fund the project.
Maju is one of Malaysia’s largest privately held companies, with interest in construction, property, infrastructure, services and manufacturing businesses.
The company’s signature projects include the Terminal Bersepadu Selatan in Bandar Tasik Selatan and the Maju Expressway, which links Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Putrajaya to Kuala Lumpur.
Maju, formed in 1978, also owns Perwaja Holdings Bhd, Malaysia’s largest steel producer of upstream products.
If the company does manage to secure the Saudi contract, it will be following the footsteps of a host of other Malaysian companies that are banking on the kingdom as the new frontier for development in West Asia.
Saudi Arabia’s economy grew by 6.8 per cent last year and this has helped it achieve a per capita income of 93,317 riyal (RM77,000), its best on record. It is poised to expand slightly more than three per cent this year.
Its construction sector, the largest in the Middle East, is expected to grow at 32 per cent to 35 per cent year-on-year until 2015. Its construction and infrastructure sub-sectors grew by 177 per cent in 2012, BofA Merrill Lynch said in a July report last year.
Among the Malaysian companies that have a presence in Saudi Arabia are MMC Corp Bhd, a unit partly-owned by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, and Eversendai Corp Bhd. MMC won the rights to develop and manage the US$30 billion Jizan Economic City in 2006, while Eversendai is undertaking structural steel works for several towers there
.
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