CAIRO: Construction Products Holding Company (CPC) and Arabian Roots Co. have formed Roots Steel, a joint venture to produce pre-engineered steel structure buildings in Egypt, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. Under the agreement, CPC will have a 70-30 percent majority stake in Roots Steel, three factories will be set up in Cairo, Damascus and Abu Dhabi at a total investment of $80 million, $27 million per factory, according to a press statement. Total production capacity envisaged is 300,000 tons per year or 100,000 tons per factory. The Cairo factory is expected to begin operations in February 2009. "The formation of Roots Steel is in line with CPC s mission to target the markets of Saudi Arabia, Europe, other Middle Eastern countries, South-East Asia and the United States, stated CPC's Business Development Director and spokesman Faysal Alaquil. "CPC has the Middle East's highest standard in the field of contracting and construction. Our business vision and philosophy is to serve as a catalyst for a [one stop shop] outlet providing all the needs of modern construction Arabian Roots, founded in 1981, is one of the largest wholesalers, manufacturers, retailers and special service providers in the Saudi market. The company focuses on building materials, including among other things, metal works, fences, doors, railings, grids, false ceiling supports, adhesives, paints, coatings, waterproofing membranes, power tools, electric generators, and mobile cranes. Arabia Roots CEO Ousama Fansa said Roots Steel would greatly benefit from his company's well-developed regional distribution and marketing network and outlets that cover the GCC (Saudi, UAE and more recently Qatar), the MENA region (with Egypt, Syria and Lebanon), and a presence in Malaysia. "Arabian Roots is fast extending its footprint in the Middle East, Fansa said. "Sales figures have touched the SR900 million mark. CPC, which started less than three years ago, offers turnkey projects covering engineering, construction, and contracting. Its expertise is available as turnkey contractor, joint venture partner or main sub-contractor. CPC plans to expand to Algeria, Morocco and India. Today, CPC owns 15 companies, 14 of which are construction products factories and one which is a transportation company.
