Jordan Times
Tuesday, May 3, 2005
Iraqi investors expand
businesses from Jordan
By Suleiman Al Khalidi
Reuters
AMMAN — Leading Iraqi businessmen have started a
high-profile investment company in Amman to cash in on Jordan's expanding role
as a main hub to service the rebuilding needs of their homeland, a founder of
the group said on Monday.
Noaman Abdul Jabar Al Rawi said the 19 founders of the newly established
Rafidain Projects Development Company are raising up to $100 million in capital
from over 200 Iraqi investors.
“We are finding a lot of interest from senior Iraqi investors,” said Rawi, one
of thousands of influential Iraqis with an investment portfolio ranging from the
West to the Gulf who have moved to Jordan in recent years.
Violence in post-war Iraq has seen Jordan thrive as a safe haven for thousands
of Iraqi businessmen, many of whom have set up ventures to supply their country
with products and services and even expand in the region.
The influx of Iraqis has brought at least $2 billion of inflows into Jordan,
bankers say, driving a real estate and business boom not seen since the 1991
Gulf War when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled Kuwait for safety in
Jordan.
King Abdullah, who has twice met the founders of Rafidain, has promised tax
incentives to the firm in a bid to woo Iraqi businesses ready to locate in
Jordan.
“The situation in Iraq is very difficult and we don't know how long this will
last,” said Rawi, a real estate investor who left Iraq in the 1970s.
Rawi said industrialists and businessmen investing in the firm were bringing
their expertise to set up viable projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The projects under study cover a diversified range of businesses from petroleum
storage to telecoms and pharmaceuticals to construction materials.
They will complement existing ventures in Baghdad and use Jordan's advantage as
a regional logistical hub for Iraq, with it's lower transport advantage, Rawi
said.
Jordan has established itself as a gateway and supply route for Iraq during two
war-scarred decades prior to the 2003 US-led invasion, when Iraq was also hit by
crushing sanctions imposed by the United Nations.
Rawi said among the projects is a communications satellite link to tap rising
demand in Iraq. Construction materials and medical supplies factories would
serve not just the Iraqi market but also regional markets, Rawi added.
Rafidain's investors, who come from leading merchant families and run their
Iraq-based concerns from Amman, want to draw in a wide shareholder base, Rawi
indicated.
“Many Iraqis don't have huge sums but can still invest in our firm and we will
seek to attract their savings,” he said.
Minimum shareholding for any founder is 50,000 dinars ($70,520) with a ceiling
of 500,000 dinars for any shareholder either private or corporate, Rawi added.
An investors' meeting will take place in mid-June in Amman to elect a board of
directors for the company.
Rafidain, which is now open to Iraqi nationals only, could later be listed on
the Jordanian bourse while the Baghdad Stock Exchange could list an Iraqi
registered subsidiary.