Oman's Suhail Bahwan Group (SBG) and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) have set up a joint venture (JV) engineering company to participate in India's industrial and infrastructure projects, MHI said in a statement on its website on Tuesday.
The new company, MHI Engineering and Industrial Projects India Private Limited (MEIP), will undertake business development, design, engineering, procurement, construction management, after-sales services and other functions for various industrial and infrastructure projects handled by MHI's machinery and steel infrastructure systems division, which is also responsible for the construction of fertiliser, methanol, petrochemical and oil and gas production plants.
The initial capital of MEIP is US$20mn with MHI holding a 51 per cent stake in the venture and SBG owning the remaining 49 per cent. The new company's head office is located in Gurgaon, in India's Haryana state. When contacted, SBG officials confirmed the development but declined to give further details, citing that the concerned official was away from the country.
Initially, the new company will develop businesses related to chemical and environmental plants and transportation systems in the fast growing Indian market. Future plans envisage MEIP expanding its business coverage to include the Middle East and Africa, according to the MHI statement. The new company began functioning from September 2, 2011, according to the statement.
"Along with India's vigorous economic growth, infrastructure-related investment has been increasing robustly. In view of the rising trend in infrastructure investment and soaring demand from various related industries, MHI and SBG decided to establish MEIP," the statement added.
SBG has a long and close business relationship with several Japanese companies including MHI, which built SBG's fertiliser plant in Sohar, which exports nearly 1.3mn tonnes of granular urea annually. MHI is presently also constructing the largest greenfield ammonia/urea complex in the world in Algeria for a company owned 51 per cent by SBG and 49 per cent by Sonatrach of Algeria.
MHI, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading heavy machinery manufacturers, with consolidated sales of about US$35bn in the year ended March 31, 2011.
MHI's diverse line-up of products and services encompasses shipbuilding, power plants, chemical plants, environmental equipment, steel structures, industrial and general machinery, aircraft, space rocketry and air-conditioning systems.
© Muscat Daily 2011
