Khalid Al Marzooqi, CEO of Tabreed, discusses the company’s $1.1 billion acquisition of Abu Dhabi’s PAL Cooling. The deal strengthens Tabreed’s position in the region’s district cooling sector and highlights its growth strategy in sustainable energy solutions.

Abu Dhabi

Tabreed, the main district cooling provider in the UAE, has finalized a $1.1 billion acquisition of PAL Cooling Holding from Multiply Group. This transaction marks the company's largest acquisition to date and is expected to increase Tabreed's cooling capacity by 13%.

The acquisition includes several long-term concessions, primarily on Reem Island, and adds over 850,000 tons of cooling capacity to Tabreed's existing 1.3 million tons. Tabreed also recently secured an agreement to provide district cooling services to Palm Jabal Ali, further expanding its presence in major UAE developments.

Tabreed to buy Abu Dhabi’s PAL Cooling for $1.1B

Welcome back. Tabreed, the UAE's main cooling company, has just closed its largest ever acquisition. It's a $1 billion deal for Powell Cooling Holding from Multiply Group, boosting its capacity by 13%. Tabreed supplies cooling services to iconic developments like the Burj Khalifa, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, and of course the Louvre right here in Abu Dhabi. They've also inked an agreement with Dubai Holdings to provide district cooling services to Palm Jabal Ali. That's one of the Emirates' upcoming large-scale developments. So let's get a pulse check on what's happening in the sector with Khalid Al-Mazouki. He's the CEO of Tabreed, joining us live now. Khalid, welcome to the program. Great to have you on today. Let's pick up where my last conversation just left off, because of course Tabreed is the buyer behind Powell Cooling, which is something that Multiply Group was willing to let go of. So Khalid, take me inside the strategy here. You're willing to pay for an asset that Multiply was willing to let go of. What's the strategy? Well, basically, this is a continuation of what we do. We are in district cooling business. So I believe it was something that should have happened before, and luckily it did happen. It will definitely increase our operational capacity in what we do the best, which is providing district cooling as part of the utility business. This will guarantee us, of course, long-term agreements. They usually run from 25 to 30 years. And in turn, this will definitely guarantee for the company sustainable and net income for years to come. So how is this going to reshape Tabreed's earnings profile and the leverage position moving forward? Very positively. I mean, if you look at it, there's just the mere size of the acquisition that happened. Let's take Powell on a side. This is a 600,000 tons concession. I mean, Tabreed currently is at 1.3 million, so it's pretty much almost 40% of what currently is. It is connected to 180,000, but the whole concession, which is about eight concessions, the majority of them will be in Reem Island, significantly increases Tabreed's capacity. That, of course, does not include Jebel Ali, which is another significant increment for Tabreed. So definitely for our business model is actually we are cooling investors. We do like to have, whether it's brownfield, greenfield acquisition, to guarantee long-term concessions or contracts for the company. And this is what basically works best for Tabreed. This is the business model of the company itself. So as far as we're concerned, literally that's 13% increment on the current capacity. If you add the concession, that's another 600,000 plus 250,000. That's well over 850,000 capacity added to Tabreed's current capacity, which is 1.3 million. So it's pretty significant for Tabreed, and we're really thrilled and excited about this opportunity. And I think it sets the future for the company, gives a very solid future for the company moving forward.

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