KAEC woos investors; mulls port IPO or private placement

King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) will woo investors this week for a SAR 7 billion worth of projects at an event which aims to attract national and international investments, Fahd Al Rasheed, chief executive officer of both KAEC and Emaar the Economic City told The National.

The industrial zone’s King Abdullah Port may consider a public offering or a private placement in the future, he added.

“An IPO could be contemplated when the port is ready for that…by end of next year in terms of capacity we will be the largest on the Red Sea. We want to be in the top ten in the world,” Al Rasheed said.

The port’s throughput increased 14 percent in the first half of 2017 to 821,694 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) from the same period a year earlier. Once complete, KAEC, which has the world’s deepest 18-meter water berths, will be able to handle 20 million containers.

The zone is launching a joint fund with the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority that will provide budding or emerging businesses with access to financing.

“We are setting up a $20 million fund that could grow with time and if it offers the right benefit to entrepreneurs to $200 million or $500 million,” he said.

The zone has to date raised $7.9 billion liquidity and unlikely to raise additional financing from the bond market.

“The banks have offered us sufficient long-term funding…so therefore we are not looking at a bond issuance,” Al Rasheed said. “Up to 2025 we have 50-billion-riyal capex program so about $14bn is our direct investment.”

Looking forward KAEC plans to expand the logistics footprint in the zone’s industrial valley.