Dubai, UAE, 25 April 2018:  Itqan Investments LLC (“Itqan”) owned by Sheikh Hamad Al Sulaiman, together with Tamar VPower Energy Fund I LP (the “Fund”),  jointly established and managed by Hong Kong based VPower Group International Holdings Ltd. (1608.HK) (“VPower”) and CITIC Pacific Ltd. (“CITIC Pacific”), has acquired Byrne Equipment Rental LLC (the “Byrne Group”), a supplier of rental equipment, including power rental solutions, across the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC), in a deal valued at approximately AED 1 billion, the former company announced via a Press communiqué.

Byrne Equipment Rental offers high quality equipment rental solutions to a broad variety of sectors including oil and gas, construction and infrastructure, events, industrial and manufacturing and marine and ports and works with global companies throughout the GCC region, the communiqué said.  The deal also includes other businesses within the Byrne Group, namely Spacemaker (UAE), Byrne Technical Services (KSA) and Byrne Medical Equipment Rental, the communiqué further said.

Sheikh Hamad Al Sulaiman, Chairman of Itqan and Chairman & CEO of the Byrne Group, said: “The acquisition will support Byrne’s plans to grow into the Asian market, replicate the success the company has already achieved in the GCC region and tap into a wider scope of power generation solutions in the GCC region.”

Sheikh Hamad further said: “VPower and CITIC Pacific have a clear understanding of our operating model and we see this as a powerful opportunity to leverage our respective strengths and generate enhanced growth in our markets.  This is particularly the case in the larger scale power generation market, where VPower’s investment, building and operating business has demonstrated tremendous growth in recent years and CITIC Pacific has extensive experience with a total gross installed capacity in thermal, clean and renewable energy over 7GW.”

With 15 operational bases and a fleet of over 10,000 items of plant, the Byrne Group is made up of more than 1,500 people and the acquisition is expected to benefit existing staff members with career progression opportunities made available.

Sheikh Hamad added: “We are a GCC company with a strong history and an incredibly experienced team of professionals who are both multi-cultural and multi-national.  The team has helped our business to thrive and succeed in many different ways and this will continue to be an important focus of the organisation in the future with VPower and CITIC Pacific.”

Headquartered in Hong Kong, VPower is Southeast Asia’s largest private gas-fired engine-based distributed power station owner and operator, the communiqué said. Rorce Au-Yeung, Co-Chief Executive Officer of VPower, said: “VPower has the capabilities and expertise to help drive Byrne’s expansion, with a focus on the multi-megawatt power generation and power rental markets.”

CITIC Pacific is the overseas investment platform of CITIC Limited and its core businesses include special steel manufacturing, energy and real estate development. Steve Kwok, Executive Vice President of CITIC Pacific, said, “We are pleased with the opportunity to invest with our partner VPower in this world-class equipment rental company in the GCC.  This is our first project in the region and we are confident to contribute our expertise in the power sector, and bring in other business opportunities leveraging CITIC Group’s network to support the growth of Byrne and open up the China market opportunity.”