MAN House Dubai: a hub for the Middle East

Representing the entire MAN Group, and situated in the Dubai Airport Free Zone, it will become the sales and service hub for MAN products in 16 countries - from Yemen to Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

"Our new MAN House is the logical expansion of our already strong position in the Middle East,"

emphasised Håkan Samuelsson, CEO of MAN AG, at a press conference in Dubai.

"The MAN House is our acknowledgement of this important growth region."

MAN has maintained a presence in the Middle East for over a century. And in the past year, MAN has received contracts from the region to a value of over €1.5 billion. The MAN House Dubai will be inaugurated today at an event at-tended by an audience of 200 customers, government representatives and business partners.

With the establishment of MAN Houses in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Africa, the MAN Group is strengthening its presence in these fast-growing regions. Managed by MAN Ferrostaal, a shared sales and service platform is being set up for the companies in the MAN Group, which will grant customers easier access to MAN products on a global scale. The concept promotes a dis-tinct presentation for the brand, together with an enduring improvement for brand presence. Last week, the very first MAN House was inaugurated in Bei-jing. The company plans to establish further bases in other growth regions dur-ing the next few years.

MAN has being doing business in the Middle East since the beginning of the last century. In 1902, GHH, a precursor to the MAN Group, supplied Egypt with a 12 horsepower steam engine for an ice factory. In 1936, MAN buses started a service running from Alexandria to Rosetta.

As a result of the increasing importance of the oil-rich Gulf States in the second half of the twentieth century, a new breed of business opportunities has ap-peared for companies in the MAN Group. Products from the MAN TURBO Group, for example, have made a significant contribution to the establishment of the petrochemical industry in the Middle East. In Qatar, the company has deliv-ered eight compressor trains and twelve reactors for the world's largest gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant. In 2006, a contract was received from Kuwait to supply 22 compressors for a gas processing plant.

MAN Nutzfahrzeuge can look back on over 30 successful years in the truck and bus business in the region. One example of this is the fleet of over 120 buses that service Dubai Airport. Only a few weeks ago, the Roads & Transport Authority contracted MAN to supply about 400 city buses. With sales of over 1,500 trucks a year, MAN is the market leader among European suppliers in the United Arab Emirates, a position it also holds in Oman and Bahrain. In Saudi Arabia and Qatar, MAN is already the second most important provider.

The strong growth seen in the Middle East has led to a rapid increase in the demand for stationary engines. An oil-rich region in particular can benefit espe-cially from engines that can run on anything from diesel, through heavy or crude oil, to gas. In Saudi Arabia, MAN Diesel is the market leader in delivering sta-tionary plant for rapidly-expanding industries such as the cement industry. In an oil refinery in Yemen, one of the largest power plants in the region is being powered by MAN engines.

As a global provider of industrial services, MAN Ferrostaal uses the MAN House Dubai as a strategically valuable location for doing business with coun-tries in the region. A methanol plant was constructed in Oman with a yearly ca-pacity of 1.05 million tonnes, with the total volume of investment reaching US$500 million. MAN Ferrostaal has a 20% stake in the Oman Methanol Com-pany, which will operate the methanol plant. The target market for the methanol produced is the chemical industry in Europe and Asia.

Alongside sales, future growth in the Middle East is rooted deeply in service provision. For example, MAN offers a truck and bus service in more than fifty dedicated centres, seven days a week. Similar service agreements are in place for diesel engines and turbo machinery. Training programmes are available in all these areas for both MAN staff and customers. The MAN House Dubai will act as a hub for these numerous service activities, organising and developing them further.