30thJanuary 2009.- GAM, Spanish company founded in the year 2003, and ETE, company founded in 1971 in Saudi Arabia, have signed a collaboration agreement in Saudi Arabia for the constitution of a joint venture focused in the development and exploitation of the machinery sales and rental business. The agreement considers the expansion of this activity in Saudi Arabia, the Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Iraq, having the latter a great potential once pacified.
Eastern Trading & Contracting Establishment (ETE) was founded in 1971, as a general trading and contracting firm by Mr. Ali A. Bu Khamseen, the owner and the Chairman. During the ensuing years, the company has widened the scope and range of its operations to include such diverse activities as Ready Mixed Concrete, Glass & Aluminium, Metal & Steel, Transportation, Cement Products, Stone Quarries and Real Estate.
ETE has an annual turnover of 200 million euros and employs more than 2,000 people.
With this agreement, GAM progresses in the implementing and development of its rental service business in parts of the world whose economies are amongst those with the highest growth rate and which will require in the following years an important boost and development, both of their infrastructures and of their industrial activity.
Within its strategy for the positioning at an international level in the economies in which a growing demand is expected, GAM has been developing its activity in Eastern Europe, with operational bases since 2007 in Romania and Bulgaria, and in Poland since 2008. In this same year, GAM set off in America with operations in Mexico, and lately in Brazil.
With this agreement, GAM opens a third international expansion line in the Middle East countries and begins its activity in a third continent: Asia, adding to its presence in Europe and America. On the before mentioned basis, GAM plans to further develop in these areas and to explore other possibilities that may complete its strategic position.
Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf countries, a market with a great potential
Saudi Arabia, together with Qatar and Abu Dhabi –capital of the Arab Emirates- are currently two of the strongest and most solid real economies in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia represents the 25% of the whole economy in the area. And its growth is not only based in an increasing population rate, but also in the following pillars:
1- Construction industry: Saudi Arabia is experimenting a growth period in the housing construction sector due to the need of residential units. It has to be taken into account that 70% of the population is below the age of 30.
2- Oil Industry: Saudi Arabia intends to increase the oil production from the current 9 million barrels per day to 15 million in the following 5 years. This involves great projects and investments in this sector. In addition to this, the Government is promoting the creation of the petrochemical industry derived from petrol to avoid depending only from crude oil, and to add a higher value to their exports.
3- Infrastructures: Saudi Arabia has 2.5 km2, and it is developing, which means that new projects for big infrastructures are constantly being planned to cover the needs of this development (hospitals, schools, railway, airports, roads, etc.).
Due to these growth needs, a public investment of 900 billion dollars in the next 10 years is expected, out of which, we can highlight 290 billions for housing construction, 140 billion for infrastructures, 145 billions in petrol industry and energy, and 90 billions in the treatment of drinking water. These figures do not take into account the possible private investment.
With regards to Qatar, it has an outstanding production of gas and petrol. The governmental strategy is, not only to develop the secondary industry derived from petrol, but to develop another set of investments in the energy sector, in search of alternative energies, as well as to push forward the housing and infrastructure activity to give a response to the needs derived from the growth of its population.
And, Abu Dhabi has the highest income per capita in the Gulf and the highest oil reserves in the world. It is the country with the highest future expectations in the Gulf, where investment is being mainly being financed with public funds and with the investment of local private investors. It has important development plans in the housing and infrastructure sectors. The Arab Emirates, unlike the rest of the countries in the area, focuses its development plans on the premise of respect to environmental rules and with the objective of cero CO2 emissions.
GAM is the leading company in the Iberian Peninsula market of machinery rental. This is a very fragmented sector where GAM acts as a global and integrated operator, thanks to its wide network of delegations. The company already has a hundred delegations all over Spain and Portugal and a fleet of over 70,000 equipments of the best manufacturers in the market. Amongst this equipment, we can find power generators, platforms and cranes for the assembly and maintenance of wind farms, industrial forklifts, equipment with diploris for roads, heavy machinery and compressors, transport vehicles, equipments for events, maintenance and cleaning of gardens and roads, etc. GAM is also present in the markets of Rumania, Poland, Bulgaria, Mexico and Brazil.
Further information:
Covadonga Coto
Corporate Development Director
GAM
ccoto@gamalquiler.com
Phone: (+34) 985 73 22 73
Gonzalo Torres / José Luis González Gavin Anderson & Co.
gtorres@gavinanderson.es
jlgonzalez@gavinanderson.es
Phone: (+34) 91 702 71 70 |
