ACWA Power takes full ownership of NOMAC

The transaction is based on a share purchase agreement with Sogex Oman and with the completion of this transaction ACWA Power has become the 100% owner of NOMAC.

"We are pleased to take full ownership of this company and add it to our growing portfolio as a landmark event in the history of ACWA Power, a testimony that we do not need to rely on partnership expertise to fulfill our objective of being an integrated Developer, Owner & Operator of Power and Desalinated Water Plants," said Paddy Padmanathan, ACWA Power's President and CEO.

He went on to say, "This acquisition is a natural progression in our growth strategy as it is part of our concentrated efforts aimed at enhancing the productivity of our well established assets in Saudi Arabia."

NOMAC is the leading independent operations and maintenance services provider for the power and desalination industry in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. NOMAC delivers operation and maintenance service solutions to public and private sector owners of power and desalination plants including steam turbine power plants, gas turbines simple and combined cycle power plants, sea water large capacity desalination plants including Multi Stage Flash (MSF), Multi Effect Distiller (MED) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) technologies, diesel engine power plants, seawater cooling systems, potable water transmission systems and solar photovoltaic plants. Currently, NOMAC has operational responsibility for a total of 8 projects, five of which are mega projects in Saudi Arabia: Shuaibah IWPP, Shuaibah Expansion IWP, Qurayyah IPP and Shuqaiq IWPP and participates in the Marafiq Jubail IWPP, Rabigh IPP and a Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Power Plant located in Karadzhalovo, Bulgaria and Barka IWPP and Barka RO Expansion Plant both in Oman. In addition, NOMAC is fully responsible for the operation and maintenance of two, barge-mounted, self-supporting desalination plants which are currently located in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.

Today, with a work force of approximately 660 in Saudi Arabia in addition to 105 contractor staff, NOMAC is responsible for the operation of a portfolio of over 10,000 MW of power generation representing 20% of the total power generated/installed in Saudi Arabia. NOMAC currently serves the equivalent of approximately 5.3 million people in Saudi out of a population of 27.1 million or 2,380 Saudi towns and villages out of 12,256. Likewise, NOMAC is responsible for the operation and maintenance of projects producing 2.2 million m³/day of desalinated water representing 42% of the total desalinated water production in Saudi Arabia.

In 2009 working with ACWA Power, NOMAC also sponsored the establishment of the Higher Institute of Water and Power Technologies to train school leavers to become fully proficient operators of power generation and desalinated water production plants entirely with the objective of ensuring meaningful employment creation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the sustainability of service delivery over the long term by reducing dependence on the expatriate workforce.

During the first year of the Institute's operation NOMAC sponsored 32 trainees through a 2 year scholarship program. This year NOMAC has taken on the sponsorship of 60 new students who will be enrolled in the same program bringing the total number of sponsored trainees by NOMAC to 92 students. This initiative is part of NOMAC's objective of reaching 50% saudization within 5 years.

Mohammed Abunayyan, Chairman of ACWA Power, said, "This acquisition will streamline our business so that the operations of ACWA Power will take complete control of the O&M function to ensure optimization of plant operations thus providing a fully integrated holistic environment which encompasses project development and/or acquisition, management and operation and maintenance."

He went on to say, "Taking full ownership of NOMAC will also give us the ability to control and utilize the resources of the company in the most effective and efficient manner to ensure maximum added value for stakeholders."