Eni, A2a, De Nora and more: all the Italy-Saudi Arabia agreements
The Italian-Saudi investment forum has produced twenty agreements between companies and could open the door to an investment by Riyadh's sovereign wealth fund in the new strategic fund created by the Meloni government. All the details
The Italian-Saudi investment forum, the first edition of which was held yesterday in Milan, saw the participation of about twelve hundred companies – one hundred and fifty based in Saudi Arabia – and led to the signing of twenty bilateral agreements. Among the large Italian companies present at the event were Cassa depositi e prestiti, Eni, Enel, Snam, Leonardo, Pirelli, Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, ITA Airways, Maire, Ansaldo Energia and Saipem.
THE ITALY-SAUDI ARABIA MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
A memorandum of understanding was also signed at the forum between the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and the Saudi Ministry of Investments which, according to the press release , "is intended to support dialogue between institutions and companies interested in promoting investment among two countries and to encourage cooperation in direct investment, supporting investors in all phases of the projects if they have been indicated as having strategic economic importance for one of the two countries”.
WILL THE SAUDI SOVEREIGN FUND INVEST IN THE ITALIAN SOVEREIGN FUND?
Minister Adolfo Urso spoke of a "historic turning point in economic cooperation" between Rome and Riyadh. Cooperation that could also concern the Made in Italy National Strategic Fund, a sovereign fund dedicated to supporting Italian strategic supply chains with an initial endowment of 1 billion euros: it was established last May with the "Made in Italy" law decree and it should be approved by Parliament by October. The Public Investment Fund , the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, could in fact invest in the Italian strategic fund, as mentioned by Urso.
THE AGREEMENTS WITH ACWA POWER
Among the agreements reached during the Forum, the main ones concern ACWA Power, a Saudi company that deals with energy and water treatment: it manages gas-fired plants, solar and wind farms, hydrogen electrolysis sites and desalination plants . The company is present in a dozen countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia; its largest shareholder is the Public Investment Fund, with a stake of about 44 percent, while the managing director is an Italian, Marco Arcelli.
ACWA Power has signed six agreements with as many Italian entities – Eni, A2A, De Nora, Rina, Italmatch Chemicals and Confindustria – relating to green hydrogen and water desalination. Arcelli stated that ACWA Power wants to be “a vehicle to create development opportunities for Italian and European companies in Saudi Arabia and to drive sustainable progress in Italy and Europe by providing green hydrogen and technical expertise”.
More specifically, ACWA Power will discuss cooperation with Eni on the so-called "sustainable fuels for aviation", ie biofuels and e-fuels . With A2A, instead, of supplies of green hydrogen, while with Rina of the use of hydrogen to power ships. The talks with De Nora will concern the sharing of technologies for desalination and hydrogen production projects; lastly, those with Italmatch Chemicals on water treatment products.
The focus on green hydrogen – i.e. produced starting from electricity generated from renewable sources – can be explained both by the importance of this zero-emission fuel for the decarbonisation of heavy industry and means of transport unsuitable for batteries, and by Saudi Arabia's high solar potential. The country is trying to convert its energy know-how to the ecological transition and to reduce the weight of oil in its economy .
WATER, CHEMISTRY, SPORT AND MORE
The Saudi state-owned National Water Company, also linked to the Public Investment Fund, has signed three agreements on water and waste management with Plastitalia, Valvosanitaria Bugatti and SAB.
As for chemicals, the Bin-Shihon Group (Saudi company that manufactures tires and lubricants) has signed an agreement with Eni on sustainable lubricants.
In sports equipment, the Italian Technogym will collaborate with the Saudi Leejam, the largest chain of gyms in the Middle East.
In construction, Rizzani De Eccher has entered into an agreement with the Samman group and Cipriani with the Al-Kholi group.
In engineering consultancy, there is an understanding between Studio Martini Ingegneria and Alrabiah Consulting Engineers.
In manufacturing, the Italian Valvosider will cooperate with Industrial Systems Group, and Continuus-Properzi with Bahra Electric (specialized in the production of cables).
Lastly, in healthcare, the Italian healthcare group Rekeep has reached an agreement with InterHealth Hospital.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/forum-investimenti-italia-arabia-saudita/ on Tue, 05 Sep 2023 08:08:44 +0000.