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Posted, January 27th, 2008
From hightech consumer electronics manufacturing, and telecom companies, to the worlds leading oil & gas, other mining, and infrastructure companies--the DS100 represents an aggregation of exciting and diverse set of businesses in the in the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) member States. The Following is a brief profile of some of the most exciting companies from each industry sector represented.
Saudi Aramco - Saudi Arabia
Energy: Oil & Gas - Integrated
DS100 Rank #1, +19% |
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Saudi Aramco, the global leader in crude oil production is a state-owned oil enterprise, located in Saudi Arabia. It is also considered as a pioneer and forefront leader in the production and export of natural gas liquids (NGL). It is said to have a sustained crude production capacity of 8.5 million barrels a day.
Its relentless quest for excellence was proven when it won a "Standard of Excellence" Web Award in 2007 from the Web Marketing Association (WMA) of Boston, Mass. Saudi Aramco also won the award in 2003 and 2002. This award was given to recognize excellence in Internet marketing, advertising & public relations.
In 2006, Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical came together on PETRORabigh, an integrated refining/petrochemical project set out to develop and modernize existing refinery so that crude oil can be refined to produce light petroleum products. With an expected completion date of end 2008, this project would provide lucrative opportunities for Saudi and foreign investors.
Conceptualized and established in 1976, Riyadh-based SABIC prides in being a manufacturing conglomerate, branching out in chemicals, fertilizers, plastics and metals. It is the largest public company as listed on Tadawul (Saudi Arabia Stock Exchange) with 70% state-controlled shares.
Established to stimulate Saudi Arabia's hydrocarbon resources, today, SABIC is one of the leading petrochemical enterprise aligned into six strategic business units (SBU's) facilitated by 4 corporate support units.
In 2007, the General Electric Company agreed to sell GE Plastics business to SABIC for a groping $11.6 billion deal. The former General Electric entity, NOW renamed as SABIC Innovative Plastics will focus on the growth and development of thermoplastics and engineering plastics.
SABIC, the largest and most profitable non-oil organization in the Middle East was also part of the Forbes 40 Middle East list issued in 2007.
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Koc Holding - Turkey
Diversified: Automotive, Energy, Finance, others
DS100 Rank #6, +90% |
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Incepted in 1926, KOC Holding A.S is a diversified enterprise with extended operations in automotives, durable goods, foods, retail, energy, financial services, tourism, construction and IT Services.
Deemed as the largest company in Turkey, it operates on a massive employee base of approximately 89,000 and adheres to all international standards of corporate governance, customer satisfaction, service excellence and employee satisfaction.
Its international network spans Algeria, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, China, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iraq, Ireland, USA, Spain and many others. Its foreign partners/alliances include major industry magnets like LG Electronics, Yamaha, Allianz, Tokio Marine, Ford Motor Company, Iveco Fiat and many others.
As per the survey carried out by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO) on the 500 Largest Industrial Companies for 2006, 5 of the top 10 companies were subsidiaries/entities of the KOC Group - Tüpraş, Ford Automotive, Arçelik, Tofaş and Aygaz.
Perhaps one of the popular companies in the Middle East, the Emirates Group is a Dubai-based holding company having Emirates Airlines and Dnata as subsidiaries.
As of November 1, 2007, the Emirates Group has launched the first of the Emirate Hotels & Resorts Residences located in Dubai Marina, the first of 6 international properties to be opened in 2008.
Emirates Airline is a full-fledged airlines company with 100 passenger aircrafts serving 92 destinations. Passenger numbers for the 2006-07 financial year totaled 17.5 million. Its slogan Fly Emirates, Keep Discovering has pitched in to garner remarkable profits over the years.
In accordance with the mandate of (International Air Transport Association) IATA's 'Simplifying the Business' initiative, which is targeted to achieve 100% success in e-ticketing by all worldwide airline service providers by end 2007, Emirates is well-aligned as 65% of all its transactions are already electronic.
ÜLKER
- Turkey
Food Processing
DS100 Rank #27, +14% |
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Started off as a small bakery in Istanbul, today Ulker Group is the largest consumer goods company in the Turkish Food Industry, with an assortment of biscuits, cookies, chocolates, confectionery, beverages & dairies to offer. It exports internationally to 95 countries and is actively traded on the Turkish Stock Exchange.
It recently made headlines for the classic and economically strategic acquisition of Godiva, a premium Belgian chocolate firm for a record $ 850 million. Subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, Godiva will be an official entity of the Ulker Group.
The corporate family ratings of Ulker Group were revised from B1 to Ba3 in October 2007 by Moody in light of the company's solid position in the local food market, its high profitability, strong financial metrics and adequate liquidity position.
Vestel - Turkey
Electronic Appliance & Tools
DS100 Rank #46, +17% |
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Vestel Group, a conglomerate of various domestic and foreign companies is a dynamic player in the electronic, white goods and Information Technology Industry. Its foreign alliances span countries including Germany, France, England, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands.
Vestel is a leading exporter of TV's, white goods, air conditioners, computers to 103 countries. Its strength has always been extensive investments in Research and Development and they symbolize the brand image and commitment of Vestel which produces its own technology to create world-quality products.
It is the first in the business to launch 100 Hz TVs, the first 87-screen TVs, Flat TVs with DVD, recordable Replay TVs, Digital TVs, Internet TVs, TFT TVs and Plasma TVs.
Zain - Kuwait
Telecommunications
DS100 Rank #56, +108% |
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Zain, a wonderful World
As they say, the name says it all. Founded in 1983, the Mobile Telecommunications company is a pioneer wireless service provider, spanning the Middle East and African countries. Its operations in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Sudan were rebranded as Zain in 2007. In Iraq, its operations are as MTC Atheer, In Lebanon as MTC Touch and In African countries as Celtel.
Headquartered in Kuwait, it is branded as one of the dynamic players in the mobile industry, providing voice and data services to approximately 32 million customers and priding on market capitalization exceeding $ 30 billion, as of June 2007.
Beginning 2007, the management of Zain launched a strategy marketed as ACE (Acceleration, Consolidation, Expansion) to realize it 3x3x3 vision – To grow regionally, internationally and globally with each phase being completed in 3 years, with an aim to expand its customer subscriber base to 70 million.
Major recognition came for MTC in 2007 in the form of 3 accolades during the CommsMEA 2007 Telecom Award Ceremony. The awards included Lifetime Achievement Award for Dr. Saad Al Barrak, CEO of MTC Group, Overall Operator of the Year, and New Telecoms Service of the Year - One Network.
Bank Mandiri - Indonesia
Finance: Commercial Bank
DS Rank # 71, +24% |
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The largest bank in Indonesia, assets, loans and deposit-wise, Bank Mandiri was incepted in 1999 as an amalgamation of 4 state-controlled financial institutions - Bank Bumi Daya (BBD), Bank Dagang Negara (BDN), Bank Expor Impor (Exim), and Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo). It was awarded the Best Trade Finance Bank (Indonesia) & Best Domestic Commercial Bank (Indonesia) by Global Finance and Asia Money respectively in 2004.
Bank Mandiri hit headlines when it announced its acquisition plans to the media in 2007. Nothing concrete has hit live-wires but it is said that 2008 should bring acquisitions for the Bank in order to strengthen its finance.
Today, it operates on an employee infrastructure of 21,000 and is well capitalized with a Capital Adequacy Ratio of approximate 23.7%, recorded at end 2005.
Perhaps the most talked about real estate Company in the Middle East Business circle, Emaar Properties, the Dubai based firm is one of the world's largest real estate firm, listed on the Dubai financ
ial Market (DFM) and part of Dow Jones Arabia titens Index.
Emaar came into immediate limelight when it started operations on its most ambitious project to date, Burj Dubai, the tallest tower in the world originally slated for completion in 2008. With more than 14,000 homes, Emaar has several major real estate projects underway in Dubai. Arabian Ranches, The Springs, The Meadows, The Lakes, The Views, The Greens and Dubai Marina are a few of its projects to name.
Construction coverage for Emaar has crossed borders with the firm having joint venture agreements and projects across the region spanning India, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Syria, Pakistan, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. Few renowned international projects include: Uptown Cairo in Egypt; Boulder Hills, a residential community in Hyderabad, India; various resort projects in Morocco, the Eighth Gate project in Damascus and Lakeside in Istanbul.
In March 2007, Emaar's continuous efforts for quality and service excellence bore fruit when it won the coveted Dubai Quality Award given as an initiative by the Dubai Department of Economic Development. 2006 also proved lustrous for Emaar as it bought multiple of accolades and laurels. Most coveted amongst all were the three awards at Euro money Gulf Real Estate awards - Best Overall Developer in UAE, Best Residential Developer in UAE and Outstanding Contribution Award given to Mohammed Ali Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar Properties.
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Al Rajhi Bank - Saudi Arabia
Commercial Banking
DS100 Rank #75, +29% |
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Local Vision, International Expertise
The largest Islamic Finance institution and an industry visionary, Al Rajhi Bank is perhaps, one of the largest joint stock companies in the Kingdom, with a paid up capital of SR 13,500,000,000. It operates through its head office in Riyadh and through 6 other regional offices.
It spans the largest branch and ATM network in the Kingdom with a reported figure of 500 branches and 1750 installed ATM machines.
It hit headlines in 2007, when Abdullah Sulaiman Al Rajhi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Al Rajhi Bank won the Islamic Banker Prize for 2007 during an international banking prize distribution ceremony.
It was awarded to him in light of his distinguished and significant contribution to the Islamic finance Industry in 2007.
Savola Group -
Saudi Arabia
Commercial Banking
DS100 Rank #81, +32% |
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Savola Group is a seasoned industrial enterprise spanning a wide consortium of products including edible oils, sugar, noodles, pasta, packaging, real estate and franchising.
Business activities of the group are aligned into 2 sectors - “Savola Foods Sector”, including Edible Oils, Foods and Sugar and “Savola Retail Sector”, including Retail, Real Estate and Savola Plastics.
It currently operates on an employee base of 11,000 and is listed in the top 10 companies of Saudi Arabia. It recently hit news when Yudum Foods, a leading packaged edible oil company in Turkey was 100% acquired by Afia International Company, a subsidiary of Savola Group for estimated $70.7 million. Subject to regulatory approvals, the deal is expected to attain closure in the first quarter of 2008.
IsBank - Turkey
Commercial Banking
DS Rank # 25, +25% |
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Marketed as Turkey's first public bank, Isbank is one of the most premier and service-oriented financial institutions in Turkey. Founded in 1924, it is considered a pioneer in being the first financial institution to offer banking services such as saving accounts, mutual funds, ATM Machines, overseas branches, electronic banking, interactive banking services and others to the Turkish Citizens.
It operates its network through 891 branches domestically and 11 branches overseas as of 31st December 2006.
In the “Top 1000 World Banks” survey of The Banker magazine, July 2007, Isbank ranked 102nd in the world, as the biggest bank in the region as well as in Turkey. The Forbes magazine, announced its 2006 list of annual “Global 2000” survey in April 2007 and Isbank ranked 375th.
Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Cairo Egypt, Orascom Telecom Holding is considered to be Egypt's pride as the first multinational corporation offering the largest and most diversified network services in Middle East, Africa and Pakistan.
It operates a massive network in 7 markets, Djezzy (Algeria), Iraqna (Iraq), Banglalink (Bangladesh), Tunisiana (Tunisia), Telecel Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), Mobilink (Pakistan), Mobinil (Egypt) spanning the Middle East, African and South Asian territory. Actively traded on the Cairo, Alexandria and London Stock Exchange, it is said to serve a subscriber base of 63 million as of July 2007.
Parented by Orascom Group, it held a market capitalization figure of approximately $14.6 billion at 2006 end.
With global expansion as its forte, Orascom Telecom Holding has also been a forefront player in social causes and humanitarian issues. In 2007, Mobinil and Orascom Telecom Holding Group announced the launch of their joint effort “Pro-Peace Physicians Caravan”. These mobile clinics will be launched in the Upper Egypt and desert areas with a social cause of fighting diseases and limiting the widespread of epidemics.
IOI Group
Crops, Palm Oil
Malaysia
DS100 Rank #76, +47% |
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A forefront integrated palm oil firm and one of most dynamic development investment groups operating out of Malaysia, IOI Group has come a long way since its inception.
It is a subsidiary of IOI Corporation Bhd, the largest plantation company listed on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad.
Business activities of the IOI Group are mainly focused on integrated oil palm plantation with various extensions in cultivation of oil palm and resource based manufacturing. It is also actively involved in the refinery and manufacturing process of specialty oils and fats.
2007 provide to be a year of recognition and laurels for IOI Group when it was named Asia's Leading Company (Top 10 in Malaysia) in The Wall Street Journal and conferred with the Commodity Industry Award (Best Estate) - Laukin Estate by the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities.
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