DAMMAM –

The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), the multilateral development bank focused on the energy sector, participated in the 11th Arab Energy Conference being held in Marrakech, Morocco. At the conference’s Third Ministerial Session held last Tuesday, APICORP’s Chief Executive Officer Dr Ahmed Ali Attiga presented the findings of the corporation’s most recent report on the investment outlook for the MENA Energy Industry. The agenda of the Third Ministerial Session was “Investment Requirements in the Arab Energy Sector.”

The report forecast that the MENA region will see a number of critical energy projects pushed through over the next five years, despite the uncertain geopolitical backdrop. Around $345bn has been committed to projects under execution while an additional $574bn worth of development is planned.

Attiga said: “I was very pleased to present APICORP’s MENA energy investment outlook at such an important session of this high-profile and significant event. As one of the most dynamic pan-Arab financial institutions in the energy sector, we are well placed to prepare such a report and this was an ideal forum at which to present it. Delegates to the 11th Arab energy conference will have learned many things this week, but we are hopeful that they found our report especially interesting and insightful.”

By the end of 2017, APICORP’s investment portfolio reached a value of $1.1 billion, an increase of $120 million from the previous year.

Despite a challenging operating environment in some member countries and a continuing low oil price, the portfolio was the nevertheless able to generate significant income of $43 million.

APICORP’s investment strategy is to seek increased diversification of the investment portfolio both geographically, and across the energy sector.

APICORP has maintained its unique position as the region’s only multi-lateral development bank focused on the energy industry and as such, has an important role to play in delivering value adding investment and financing solutions.

A major achievement last year was entering into a partnership with Goldman Sachs for the creation of the $500 million managed account investment vehicle.

“We have continued to pursue our strategy to diversify our portfolio of assets, investments and loans. A good example in 2017 was the acquisition from ACWA Power of a stake in the

Shuqaiq Independent Water & Power project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a major greenfield plant located at the Red Sea. This co-investment strengthens our long standing partnership with

ACWA Power,” APICORP Chairman Dr Aabed Al Saadoun said.

“At the end of 2017, our corporate finance portfolio stood at $3.2 billion, but just as importantly, the yield from the portfolio rose by 20% against the previous year, more than double the market standard for comparable assets. Corporate finance continue to play a pivotal role in a number of high profile transactions, underlying its strong project finance capabilities,” he added. — SG