Ithmar Capital enters into a strategic partnership with Dewan Architects & Engineers

"Over the last 25 years, Dewan has built a strong reputation, an extensive client base, and a portfolio of successful projects by serving most of the leading blue chip developers, corporate and VIP clients in the UAE and beyond," explained Faisal Belhoul, Founder & Managing partner of Ithmar Capital.

"This partnership is a perfect example of the added value that private equity can add to a successfully run family-owned business which is ready to step up to the next level of corporate development."

Dewan's growth strategy includes aggressive expansion into new services and markets in the region and in the development of strategic relationships and alliances.

Mohamed Al Assam, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of Dewan said: "We strongly believe that our association with Ithmar Capital will complement and strengthen our relationships regionally and internationally, thereby enabling us to deliver on our rapid growth and expansion strategy, and further position us as a leading architectural and engineering consultancy firm in the GCC."

Dewan, which was established in 1984 in the UAE, currently employees over 260 professionals operating out of the two main offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The company, which has worked on some of the region's most prestigious projects, including The Fairmont Hotel & Resort and The Futooh Al Khair Mixed-Use Complex - both in Abu Dhabi - in addition to projects in Dubai including The Prism Tower in Business Bay, The Green Community, and The Ibn Batutta Shopping Mall, boasts a multi-billion dollar order book with contracts in more than 10 countries spanning the GCC, Morocco, Brunei, Egypt, the Seychelles and Djibouti.

"While concentrating on organic expansion into different territories and service lines, Dewan will also be pursuing non-organic expansion through acquisitions and strategic alliances with the support of Ithmar Capital,"

said Khaldoun Haj Hasan, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Ithmar Capital.

A recent analyst report estimated the value of projects planned and underway in the GCC construction sector at US $1.1 trillion. The boom in the region's construction industry is attributable to several factors including higher oil prices, which have led to an increase in government wealth and expenditure, and the introduction of freehold property ownership that has spurred real estate investments by non-UAE and non-GCC residents. Importantly, though, the governments are implementing business friendly policies that are encouraging the rapid creation of a domestic diversified economy that in turn is spurring immigration and consequently demand for housing and commercial real estate

"Despite the huge opportunities in this fast growing market, Dewan continues in its vision to be a firm that is very much focused on designing quality projects rather than mass-market quantity, further strengthening its leadership position in the GCC real estate market," said Ammar Al Assam, Partner & Executive Director at Dewan Architects & Engineers.

The Dewan partnership is the second strategic move by Ithmar Capital into the GCC's construction sector and its related services. Earlier Ithmar successfully completed the acquisition of the entire new share issue of Kuwait's Mushrif Trading & Contracting Company.