Kurita Europe, part of the Japanese water and process specialty chemicals multinational Kurita Water Industries, and the UAE-based AquaChemie DMCC have inked an agreement to merge their local activities and assets into a joint venture to serve the Gulf Cooperation Council market.

Kurita AquaChemie, which is majority owned by the Japanese partner, would cater to the region’s refinery, petrochemicals, fertiliser, power and desalination, paper, and metal industries, helping them reduce their water and energy consumption, said company officials speaking at a virtual press meet on Wednesday.

The JV, which took two years to finalise, was delayed due to the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic. Speaking at the virtual meeting, Ahmad Al Haddad, Chief Operating Officer, DP World / JAFZA said the JV represented a “bold step” by the two companies “in these times.” 

The company officials declined to disclose details about the shareholding or investments in the JV but said the new company includes two green-field production plants in Saudi Arabia and the UAE that were commissioned in the first half of 2020.

“The 150,000 tonnes/year capacity Dammam plant is dedicated to the Saudi market while the 80,000 tonnes/year Jebel Ali plant would cater to the UAE and rest of the Gulf region,” said V Anandkumar, Director of AquaChemie.

He said the JV would also help the two partners meet the local content norms instituted in the Gulf countries for local projects, especially in the hydrocarbon sector while ensuring better product availability.

Kurita AquaChemie already has a base of over 25 customers in the region, a joint press statement by the two partners said. Kurita spends around 3 percent of its over $2 billion turnover on R&D each year, with more than 3,000 patents to date, the statement noted.

(Writing by Anoop Menon; Editing by Seban Scaria)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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