Qatar: Woqod & QTIC to Merge

Woqod thus becomes the sixth Qatari entity to announce a merger plans since December. The two companies had appointed Ernst and Young as consultant to make an appraisal of their assets and liabilities, their share value and the swap ratio as a prelude to the proposed merger, said a joint statement by Woqod and QTIC, whose current market capitalisation stand at QR3.87mn and QR0.07mn, respectively. The consultant has submitted the report, which will now be put forward to the respective boards of Woqod and QTIC when they meet on April 16 to approve the proposal.

The proposal will then need clearance from the government as well as from the shareholders of both the companies.  Woqod vice chairman and managing director Mohamed Turki al-Sobai and his QTIC counterpart Sheikh Khalid bin Jabor al-Thani said the merger was based on a Memorandum of Understanding duly executed by the two companies.

They said the move could see furtherance of the business and add a new value to the shares.  “We expect it (merger) to be completed by this year” Sheikh Khalid told Gulf Times on the sidelines of the QTIC annual general assembly, which approved 15% cash dividend to shareholders. The cash dividend will entail an expense of QR6mn to the company.

Woqod had reported an impressive 96% jump in its net profit to QR1.2bn, while QTIC witnessed 24% shrinkage in net profit to QR7.76mn in 2008.  In 2006, the companies had engaged in a similar exercise and launched a study on a possible merger, which however did not materialise.

Woqod is planning to commission nine petrol stations this year, thus totaling 13 stations wholly owned the company. Moreover, it, along with Ministries of Municipality and Urban Planning, is working closely to allocate 5-6 new sites at the North Road for new petrol stations.

As already covered by PetrolWorld, Qatar Fuel has already laid out impressive expansion plans for 2009 (see PetrolWorld Archives).

PetrolWorld 010409