Dubai-based contractor Drake and Scull International (DSI) is planning to acquire some businesses and embark on new projects after it raised its capital following a restructuring plan, its Chairman said on Monday.

Shafiq Abdul Hamid told CNBC Arabia satellite TV news channel that the company has completed a successful restructuring plan that included writing off 90 percent of its debt.

“The restructuring plan and the capital increase will allow the Company to expand and to acquire some other firms…it also expects to be awarded new projects,” he said.

Hamid said there have been 15 court cases in Abu Dhabi against the Company, adding that a committee formed by the Abu Dhabi attorney general decided to compensate DSI for outstanding dues of 2.1 billion UE dirhams ($572 million).

He noted that a DSI subsidiary is executing projects in Germany worth around AED440 million ($119.8 million) in sewage, fresh water and waste-to-energy projects.

DSI said last month that it intends to resume trading its shares on the Dubai Financial Market after increasing its share capital by AED300 million ($82 million). This follows the acceptance of the Dubai Courts of its restructuring plan that writes off 90 per cent of its debt.

Drake & Scull fell on hard times during the three-year oil price slump that began in 2014 and heavily affected the property and construction sector in the region.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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