Dubal takes gold sponsorship of Arabian Horse Championships for third year

This is the third consecutive year that Dubal will be the Gold sponsor of the competition, a development which reflects the company's belief in the role played by major sporting events in placing Dubai squarely on the world stage.

Held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and Chairman of Dubal), the Championship event aims to showcase the beauty, agility and heritage of Purebred Arabian horses. The event is strongly aligned with Dubal's own corporate culture of excellence, typified by absolute quality in every aspect of its business.

Since its inception in 1979, Dubal expanded and evolved into the world's largest modern aluminium smelter complex with a captive power station. The company produced almost 892,000 tonnes of hot metal in 2008 and, having completed the six expansion project at its Jebel Ali site, is targeting 945,000 tonnes in 2009. This will strengthen Dubal's global rankings and put the company firmly on track to produce more than one million tonnes of hot metal by 2011. Already, Dubal's high quality, value-added products are distributed to more than 300 valued clients in 48 countries worldwide, particularly in the Far East, Europe, the Asean region, the Middle East and Mediterranean regions, and North America.

"As Dubai's industrial flagship, Dubal is a significant contributor to the local economy, both directly and indirectly,"

says Khalid E Buhumaid (Vice President: Corporate Relations & International Affairs and official spokesperson).

"We also invest in the socio-economic development of Dubai by sponsoring high profile, world-class events - such as the annual Dubai International Arabian Horse Championship - that highlight Dubai's superb tourism and business infrastructure to international audiences. We also give of our company's time, financial resources and expertise to support a broad range of community-orientated events and activities, especially in the areas of sport and education."

Among its other sporting sponsorships, Dubal has been the main sponsor of the Dubai Desert Classic golf tournament for the past 18 years; the Dubai Ladies Masters since its inception in 2006; and Jet Ski Racing since 2005.

About Dubai Aluminium Company ("Dubal")
Dubal is the world's largest modern aluminium smelter with a captive power station. It is also one of the largest non-oil contributors to the economy of Dubai. Built on a 480-hectare site in Jebel Ali, Dubai, UAE, Dubal's major facilities comprise an 960,000 mtpa primary aluminium smelter, a 2,600 megawatt power station, a large carbon plant, three casthouses, a 30-million-gallon-per-day water desalination plant, laboratories, port and storage facilities. Employment is provided to more than 4,100 people, of whom approximately 21 per cent are UAE Nationals.

The company has the capacity to produce more than one million metric tonnes of high quality finished aluminium products a year, in three main forms: foundry alloy for automotive applications, extrusion billet for construction purposes and high purity aluminium for the electronics industry.

Dubal serves more than 290 customers in 48 countries predominantly in the Far East, Europe, the Asean region, the Middle East and Mediterranean region, and North America. The company holds ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification; and has twice won the Dubai Quality Award in the Production and Manufacturing sector (1996 and 2000).