Metito announces big global expansion, mulls IPO
Dubai, June 16, 2013
United Arab Emirates-based water and waste-water specialist Metito has secured long-term financing to support expansion plans in Indonesia, Egypt and China.
The company, owned 56 per cent by Abu Dhabi-based Gulf Capital and 6 per cent by the World Bank's International Finance Corp, is also looking at entering markets in Africa and the Indian subcontinent, Managing Director Rami Ghandour told Reuters on Sunday.
"The IFC has arranged, along with Germany's DEG, a $70 million long-term debt instrument that will enable us to pay off some debt and fund new projects, mainly in Egypt, Indonesia and the largest component will go to China," he said.
Metito, which builds, owns and operates plants around the Middle East and elsewhere, plans to invest heavily in the Chinese water market after taking full control of its joint venture there with Berlinwasser International.
The company also remains interested in an international public listing.
"Plans to IPO are still there. It is not happening this year but hopefully as soon as the markets are ready," Ghandour said, referring to an earlier plan to float part of the company in London, Singapore or Hong Kong.
The loan, which has a 10-year tenure, was partly provided by the IFC and partly by DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, a subsidiary of KfW which finances investments of private companies in developing and transition countries.
The IFC, a unit of the World Bank which invests in developing the private sector in emerging economies, provided around $50 million for the loan.
The IFC, which has invested billions of dollars in the Middle East and North Africa since a wave of political unrest began in early 2011, expects its investments in the region to slightly exceed last year's $2.2 billion for the fiscal year that ends in June, said Dimitris Tsitsiragos, IFC vice president for Europe, Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa.
"The IFC wants to play a bigger role in addressing the main issues facing the MENA region and to support the private sector which will drive most of the growth going forward," said Tsitsiragos.-Reuters
