InoChem signs loan deal with SIDF to establish industrial complex
The Khair Inorganic Chemical Industries Co. (InoChem) has signed a SR900 million ($240 million) loan agreement with the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) to establish an industrial complex in Ras Al-Khair Industrial City in the Eastern Province. It will produce the inorganic products soda ash and calcium chloride. The agreement was signed by Saeed Ahmad Basamh, InoChem chairman of the board.
InoChem will build, own and operate an industrial complex, which will produce two grades of soda ash — light and dense — and calcium chloride in two grades (77 and 94 percent). Total production capacity in the first phase, which is due to start in 2020, is expected to be 600,000 tons per annum, making it the first of its kind in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, and the largest in the Middle East and North Africa.
“This strategic project is perfectly in line with the goals and priorities of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030,” said InoChem CEO Abdulaziz Yahya Al-Muaiyyad. “It attracts an advanced global technology, and will produce two products currently fully imported to the Kingdom using raw materials 100 percent locally sourced from Saudi mineral reserves,” he added.
“Moreover, the project will supply the two products to vital industries and operations in the Kingdom, such as oil and gas operations, glass manufacturing and synthetic detergents manufacturing,” he said. “The project will create more than 1,500 jobs, 75 percent of which will target Saudi talent, who will go through a training and qualification plan in accordance with the global standards followed in such industrial projects.”
Wassim Al-Khatib, head of investment banking at NCB Capital, said his company “is keen on effectively contributing to megaprojects that create a quantum leap in the Saudi industrial sector, which will positively affect the Kingdom’s social and economic growth. We are very proud that NCB Capital contributed to the success of InoChem through our financial advisory services since the inception of the company and successfully arranging the SIDF loan.”
The Kingdom’s leadership is moving forward in supporting the private sector, especially since the industrial complex will contribute to diversifying the economy by adding new non-oil activities, and creating jobs for Saudis, in line with the Kingdom’s priorities to prepare national talent and find appropriate and rewarding job opportunities, Al-Khatib said.