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The oil-rich kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund has committed financing for the project’s first phase, while the Red Sea Development Co. is in talks with banks to raise debt, according to the head of the firm managing the process.
Vast wealth and the promise of dramatic change make for cautious optimism concerning Saudi Arabia, the chief executive…
266 Views | the publication reaches you by | Saudi Arabia Today“The funding is backed by the Public Investment Fund – they’re funding the equity and we will source senior debt,” John Pagano, chief executive officer of Red Sea Development, said in an interview in Riyadh. “While there’s no absolute need for capital, bringing in private sector investors is seen as a good thing. We are actively engaged in discussions with numerous investors.”
The company would seek to structure the investments as joint ventures and expects interest from domestic and regional investors, Pagano said.
Saudi Arabia is transforming its Red Sea coastline as part of plans to transform the economy and cut its reliance on oil.
Bringing sun-seekers to the kingdom’s beaches could transform a tourism industry that relies almost solely on Muslim pilgrims. However, past mega-projects to diversify the economy have struggled to get off the ground.
The first phase of the Red Sea project, due to be to be completed in 2022, will include 14 hotels and a commercial airport. It is expected to be fully completed by 2030.
“We have much more to build over the coming years, so there will be an opportunity at the end of each stage to either convert into a real estate investment trust, which would then allow us to monetize these assets and recycle capital,” Pagano said, adding that an IPO was among the options being considered depending on the market appetite at the time.
The company expects the development to create 70,000 jobs and contribute about 22 billion riyals ($5.9 billion) to the country’s gross domestic product.
The project for the design, engineering and procurement of the new 400,000m3/day Jubail II seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO)…
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The Arab states of the Persian Gulf are the seven Arab states which border the Persian Gulf, namely Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).This excludes the non-Arab state of Iran. All of these nations except Iraq are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
