Bauer International, part of the German multinational Bauer Group, and Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad), the industrial and logistics zone situated next to Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Port in the UAE, have announced the signing of a 50-year lease agreement. Pursuing its long term strategic plans, Bauer has committed to build a service, logistic and maintenance centre, in Abu Dhabi, to support its growing operations in the region.
The announcement was made by Mr. Alexander Haex, Vice President of Business Development at Kizad at the 65th anniversary of the Hannover Messe exhibition, Germany’s leading industrial and technology global trade fair.
Due to be operational by December 2013, the EUR 1.57mn (USD 2mn) service centre will occupy a plot size of just over 442,000 sq.ft, in Kizad’s engineered metal products cluster.
Kizad’s latest German investor is operating in UAE as Bauer Geotechnical Specialized Foundation LLC and Bauer International, registered entities in Abu Dhabi. They are part of the Bauer Group’s companies based in Schrobenhausen, Germany and part of its construction segment. The other two segments of Bauer Group are Machinery & Equipment and Resources (Environment, Mining, Water and Energy, Oil & Gas Drilling and Exploration).
With eight other clusters under the heavy industry umbrella, including aluminium; pharmaceuticals and healthcare; trade and logistics; and mixed use industries; Kizad is unique in that it encourages its investors to use each other’s services and products, also known as vertical cluster integration. This will, eventually, give investors a ready supply of business when choosing to be part of Kizad.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Bauer’s Regional Managing Director, Riaz H. Malik, said:
“With a growing demand from existing and future projects, in the UAE and the Middle East & North African region, this specialist service, logistic and service support centre will offer on-going support to Bauer International’s developing operations and aspirations in the region. Being based at Kizad will clearly provide Bauer with genuine competitive edge, operational effectiveness and added value to our customers. Kizad Project supplements our long term shrategic plans in the region”.
“We are pleased to welcome Bauer to Kizad – a German multinational with a global reach and growing Middle Eastern commitments. Bauer joins a list of blue-chip investors that recognise the benefits and advantages we are offering at Kizad, in Abu Dhabi’s only dedicated and integrated industrial zone. Kizad’s strategic geographical location, access to global markets, and low operating costs are just some of the reasons why Bauer has taken the decision to be based at Kizad,” added Haex.
Bauer recognises Kizad’s potential having been one of the contractors that worked on the EUR 5.64bn (USD7.2bn) development of Khalifa Port, which is situated adjacent to and serves the Kizad industrial zone directly. Upcoming GCC Rail Connection to Kizad would clearly enhance and support Bauer’s projects in UAE and in the GCC Countries logistically.
Khalifa Port is the Gulf Region’s only semi-automated container and deep-water port and has a current capacity for 2.5mn TEUs per annum. All container shipments into and from Abu Dhabi are now handled through this new facility.
