STEEL building products manufacturer JV Global is expanding its operations to the Middle East and North Africa, thanks to a new joint venture to be orchestrated with two property developers and investors in the region.
STEEL building products manufacturer JV Global is expanding its operations to the Middle East and North Africa, thanks to a new joint venture to be orchestrated with two property developers and investors in the region.
First item on the agenda will be the establishment of a new steel-framing factory, most likely to be situated in Jordan, with the help of Ali Rahma and Jonathan Green, both based in the United Arab Emirates.
Further expansion plans are in the pipeline, with a number of factories to be erected under the joint venture in the wealthy centres of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Perth-based JV Global already has existing joint ventures in UAE with Arabian Profile Co Ltd, in India with that country's oldest construction company, Shapoorji Pallonji & Co, and with Jordanian company Tuhama Investments.
The company has signed a memorandum of understanding to form the new joint venture to establish light gauge steel-framing production facilities.
JV Global managing director Terry Opie believes the combination of experience in the region, good timing and a bit of luck has created this opportunity.
"Arabian Profile has been manufacturing steel door frames in the UAE for two years and this time has given us the opportunity to look at this type of deal. As much as we've got to know and understand the nature of the people we're dealing with as well as knowing how business is done...we made some fairly valuable contacts," Mr Opie told WA Business News.
Mr Opie said JV Global would mirror a successful business model established by a small UK steel-frame manufacturer, Panceltica.
"What we envisage, as per the MOU, is forming a joint venture company with them, where they and their Middle East contacts will take 60 per cent of as company, and we'll take 40 per cent, and that company will act as a services company that will go into the UAE, principally Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and Jordan I think ...certainly Saudi Arabia," he said.
"These people have got very substantial contacts in the area and are mainly investors and developers; they already have large spots of land and projects in the planning stage and would normally be going out to the market to find builders and contractors to get involved.
"In the case of Jordan, they want to get the company listed on the Jordanian stock exchange; in the case of Dubai and Abu Dhabi we're looking at listing that on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange.
"These projects could range from five out to eight years, and they are substantial contracts, very substantial."
Mr Opie did not want to disclose the name of the company Messrs Raham and Green represented, but research undertaken by WA Business News reveals that the men are the chief executive and managing director, respectively, for eqarat.com, a property consultancy group based in UAE.
"There's just so much wealth within that region at present, people aren't interested in a $5 or $10 million deal; it's a $100 million deal you've got to be talking about to get noticed,' Mr Opie said.
"And it's those sort of deals we're excited about
