Orders Fall at OCI’s Construction Arm as Readies Listing

The construction arm of Egypt’s OCI NV posted a 15 percent drop in new orders in the third quarter from the three months before, ahead of its planned listing as a separate company.

The Amsterdam-listed parent company said on Friday new construction orders fell to $1.5 billion from $1.8 billion in the second quarter, due to a drop in demand from OCI’s fertiliser business.

Orders from third-party customers, however, rose to $1.1 billion from $850 million in the second quarter.

OCI said the construction business also took $188 million of provisions due to a dispute over the Sidra Medical Centre Project in Qatar, which was terminated by partner and majority owner of the project, the Qatar Foundation.

The matter has been referred to the UK court of arbitration, it added.

OCI also said it had written down some of the construction business’s assets by $129 million due to the project’s cancellation.

OCI, which moved its primary listing from Cairo to Amsterdam last year, has said spinning-off the construction division would better position both successor businesses for growth.

The new building company, to be named Orascom Construction, will be listed in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. OCI will retain its chemicals and fertiliser businesses and remain listed in Amsterdam.

Source: Reuters