DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Dubai government-owned Jafza International will invest $600 million to develop a logistics and business park in South Carolina, the latest foray by a Gulf Arab firm to invest in the U.S.
The company is venturing into North America one year after a political backlash forced Dubai's DP World to sell U.S. port assets it acquired through the takeover of the U.K.'s Peninsula & Oriental Steam Navigation Co.
Jafza has acquired 5.26 million square meters of land in Orangeburg County and expects to attract $1.2 billion in investments to the business park, the official United Arab Emirates news agency reported.
"Jafza's long-term strategy is to develop a global logistics platform, and Orangeburg is one more major step in that direction," said Jafza Chief Executive Salma Hareb.
The business park will serve four the ports of Savannah, Charleston, Wilmington and Norfolk, the report published late Tuesday said.
Jafza currently operates free trade zones and industrial parks in Middle East business hub of Dubai.
DP World, the world's third largest port operator, was forced to sell its U.S. ports operations to AIG Global Investment Group in 2006, following concerns about U.S. national security.
The rebuttal hasn't stopped Dubai firms from shopping for assets in the U.S. Dubai-based Emaar Properties, the Middle East's biggest property developer, in June 2006 bought John Laing Homes, one of the largest homebuilders in the U.S., for $1.05 billion in an effort to diversify its business away from Middle East.
-By Shaji Mathew, Dow Jones Newswires, +9714 364 4968 Shaji.Mathew@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 10, 2007 06:17 ET (10:17 GMT)
