Aims to become top global shipping hub
\nKING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY
\nSaudi Arabia\u2019s King Abdullah Port aims to be one of the world\u2019s largest shipping hubs, with a possible share sale set to spur its expansion, an executive told Arab News. The port, on the Red Sea coast, is currently the Kingdom\u2019s second largest, with container volumes having grown by more than a third last year.
\nAn initial public offering is now being considered to boost its growth, according to the head of King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), which is home to the port.
\nAhmed Linjawy, group CEO of Emaar, The Economic City \u2014 the Tadawul-listed company that is developing KAEC \u2014 said that is just one possible financing option being considered to boost the zone\u2019s wider operations.
\n\u201cTo kickstart some of the future projects, we will need other sources of funding. We\u2019re going more and more into project financing for specific projects \u2014 an IPO for the port \u2014 and some of our other businesses as well,\u201d Linjawy said.
\nAn initial public offering of King Abdullah Port is likely \u201cwithin the next five years,\u201d Linjawy added. \u201cThe vision for the port is to be among the largest in the world. We have the funding and the plans to make it the largest in the Middle East for sure, but (to make it among the biggest) in the world we will certainly need a lot more capital,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t started any official talks (for the port IPO), and our talks with the banks right now are \u2026 about the project financing of our new developments, such as hotels and some of the utility projects, like our desalination plant.\u201d
\nKAEC has been in the media spotlight over the last few days, as the first-ever European Tour golf event was held in the zone, along with a musical performance by pop diva Mariah Carey.
\nLinjawy, who has worked for Emaar, The Economic City since 2006, the year it was listed on the Saudi stock exchange, said that further entertainment events are planned, and that the zone is set to host an international motor-racing event at its track, although not one at Formula 1 level.
\nKAEC, which is 100 km north of Jeddah, covers an area of 181 square kilometers of land \u2014 bigger than the city area of Washington DC \u2014 and comprises the King Abdullah Port, coastal residential communities, an industrial zone and the Haramain Railway district.
\nIt currently has about 10,000 full-time residents and pulled in almost 500,000 tourists last year.
\nLinjawy said KAEC aims to attract 1 million tourists in 2019 through events such as the European Tour golf. A system to make it easier for foreigners to obtain entry visas to visit KAEC will be introduced this year, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Aims to become top global shipping hub KING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY Saudi Arabia\u2019s King Abdullah Port aims to be one of the world\u2019s largest shipping hubs, with a possible share sale set to spur its expansion, an executive told Arab News. The port, on the Red Sea coast, is currently the Kingdom\u2019s second largest, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n