A strategic move between Hydroturf and Kanoo, to help green the Middle East

Hydroturf is the largest supplier of golf course products in the Middle East, its trading territory stretches from Egypt across the Gulf States, to Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

Headquartered in Dubai, Hydroturf have offices in Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, Cairo, Riyadh, Doha and Muscat and active Dealer Offices in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Iran, and Pakistan. In total Hydroturf has a market share of 80 per cent of the golf course product industry across the Middle East, placing it in an enviable position

Kanoo is one of the few family trading companies that is active right through the Middle East and has a long standing reputation for quality and forward thinking. This business partnership was not entered into lightly and Hydroturf has spent almost 2 years in discussions with The Kanoo Group. Ultimately, Kanoo liked the range of products and highly professional services that Hydroturf offered and saw potential in the future desire to 'green' the Middle East with parks, residences, golf courses and tourist developments.

Hydroturf saw in Kanoo, a strong regional structure and synergy with a similar product range in the Kanoo machinery division, such as Bobcat, Massey Ferguson, Hyster etc. meant that Kanoo had an understanding of Hydroturf's core products including Club Car and TORO turfcare machinery.

With strong management teams behind both Kanoo and Hydroturf, the partnership will enable us to exchange ideas for mutual benefit. The new partnership will consist of four partners. The Kanoo Group, Khaled Abunayyan, Talal al Zain and Colin Baxter. Abunayyan is the President of the Saudi Golf Federation, owner of Dirab Golf Course located close to Riyadh and is Vice President of the Pan Arab Golf Federation. Al Zain was a VP at Chase

Manhattan, MD at Investcorp and is now CEO at Mumtalakat Bahrain and Chairman of Gulf Air. Baxter is MD of Hydroturf and was instrumental in creating the company back in 1995. Baxter is a Scottish CPA with an MBA from Syracuse University in the USA"

Golf course development has benefited from the Real Estate boom, with many projects such as Sadiyat Island, Jumeirah Golf Estates, and Sports City basing their residential communities around beautifully designed golf courses. Consequently, as new real estate projects and golf courses are planned in Aqaba, Jordan, or in Oman with 'The Wave' and the 'Malkai', or in Qatar or the Sudan.

The Hydroturf Kanoo partnership, will move into these new developments and bring the Hydroturf experience and expertise as market leader into play. In existing golf and tourist markets such as the UAE and Egypt, this strong highly professional team will move forward with confidence and further improve both Hydroturf's sales and after sales service to customers across the markets.