Italy’s Maire says Al Nowais buys 5% Nextchem stake, to target Middle East

By Alberto Chiumento

(Reuters) – Italy’s Maire said on Wednesday that Yousef Al Nowais had bought a 5% stake in Nextchem, valuing the engineering company’s subsidiary at 1.25 billion euros ($1.33 billion).

Maire said Al Nowais, who became one of its shareholders more than a decade ago and now owns a 4.73% stake, paid 62.5 million euros for 5% of Nextchem, which provides technology services for companies tackling the energy transition.

It said the move aimed to bolster Nextchem’s services in the Middle East, a region which is pivotal to the global energy transition and where Maire obtained its biggest order ever.

Maire won an $8.7 billion contract in October 2023 from the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company as part of the Hail And Ghasha gas project, which is scheduled to produce 1.5 billion standard cubic feet per day (bscfd) of gas before the end of the decade.

Al Nowais, who is CEO of Arab Development Establishment (ARDECO), a United Arab Emirates group active in gas and petrochemicals, will also support Nextchem’s in the Middle East.

His role will “give further impetus to the development of Nextchem in a strategic area like the Middle East, which is already a key player in the energy transition,” Maire CEO Alessandro Bernini said in a statement.

In the first nine months of 2024, Maire generated around 6% of its 4.1 billion euros in revenue from sustainable technology services led by Nextchem, with the remainder from Integrated E&C Solutions, which focuses on engineering projects.

Maire’s shares, which initially rose almost 6% on the announcement of the deal, were trading 1.3% higher on the day at 7.1 euros at 1554 GMT in a flat market.

($1 = 0.9403 euros)