Alujain Appoints FTH as Financial Adviser

JEDDAH, 21 March 2004 — Alujain Corporation (Alujain) has appointed Financial Transaction House (FTH) as the lead financial adviser for the increase of its capital to SR500 million from the current capital of SR173 million. The capital increase will consist of a rights issue to current shareholders and a potential offering to the public. The rights issue is expected to take place in the first half of 2004, contingent upon obtaining regulatory approval from the Ministry of Commerce, according to a press release received here yesterday. The capital increase is to fund Alujain’s expansion program and invest in three projects in the petrochemicals industry in the Kingdom: Alfasel, Teldene and SuperAlkylate.

Alujain is in advanced stages of development of these projects and plans to have an equity participation of up to 40 percent in each. The remainder of the funding for the projects is expected to come from a combination of loans from local and international commercial lending institutions, from the Saudi Industrial Development Fund and local, regional and international equity investors.

The Alfasel project will establish a world-scale propylene production facility at the Yanbu Industrial City. The project will produce 400,000 tons per year (tpy) of polymer-grade propylene using propane dehydrogenation technology provided by the Universal Oil Products Corporation of the US. Saudi Aramco will supply propane for the unit. Germany’s Lurgi will design, engineer and construct the plant on a lump-sum turnkey basis. The facility will provide feedstock for a nearby Teldene polypropylene plant.

The Teldene project will be located at the Yanbu Industrial City and will produce 400,000 tpy of polypropylene. The project is being developed by the local National Petrochemicals Company (NatPet), in which Alujain holds a 42 percent interest. Teldene is scheduled to come on-stream concurrently with Alfasel at the end of 2006.

Alujain is at an advanced stage of the SuperAlkylate project to develop a new plant for producing clean fuels in Jubail. This is joint project with Noble Americas Corporation (Noble) of the US and will produce 900,000 tpy of isooctane, a substitute for methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) and other ethers. Alujain and Noble have signed a joint venture agreement in July 2003. The project is scheduled to begin commercial operations in early 2008.

Alujain Corporation is a joint stock company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that develops competitive world-scale projects which benefit from the Kingdom’s resource base of reliable and low cost hydrocarbons and minerals, competitive labor costs, available infrastructure and competitive utility prices.

FTH is an investment banking advisory firm based in Saudi Arabia. FTH provides a wide range of corporate finance advisory services to a diversified client base in the Middle East. Services include mergers & acquisitions, private placements, public offerings, and general strategic and financial advisory.