Press Release

Gulf Capital, a leading regional private equity firm, was triumphant at the Private Equity World MENA Awards 2007, where it won the award for the “Best Mid-market Deal of the Year”. The award was bestowed to Gulf Capital for its ground-breaking acquisition of a 60% stake in Metito, one of the world’s largest providers of desalination, water and wastewater solutions

Gulf Capital was keen to secure exposure to the fast-growing regional water and wastewater industry, which is expected to attract over US$117 billion in investments in the MENA region over the next ten years according to Global Water Intelligence. Metito, as the one of the largest private Arab water utilities with a 50 years operating history and an unparalleled track record, was the ideal firm for Gulf Capital to invest in.

Commenting on the win, Dr. Karim El Solh, Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Capital said: “This is our first award and as such it is very special to us. Acquiring a stake in Metito was at that time the largest private equity investment in the fast-growing regional water industry and was indicative of our mission to be “Partners in growth”. The award is testament to the fact that this was indeed one of the largest and most-sophisticated buyout transactions in the regional utilities sector and we are proud to gain global recognition for it”.

Matthew Wallhead, General Manager, Terrapinn Awards was all praise for Gulf Capital: “The Private Equity Awards MENA were created to recognize the leaders, innovators, creative talents, and pioneers in the regions Private Equity market. The entries in the Mid-market Deal of the Year category were all of a high standard, but the Gulf Capital submission based on the landmark Metito transaction came out on top. Congratulations to the Gulf Capital team.”

Muhannad Qubbaj, Managing Director of Business Development, Gulf Capital received the award on behalf of the Gulf Capital team: “I am extremely proud of the team and the work we have done so far with Metito. We are thankful to Terrapinn for this honour and hope to continue this momentum in the future”.