Family-owned Abu Dhabi conglomerate Al-Jaber Group, whose businesses span contracting, engineering and shipping interests, has appointed Panicos Euripides as the new group chief executive officer.

Euripides joins the firm from the UAE-based contractor ETA Ascon, where he had served as the CEO since October 2013, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has also held the role of country manager for Wade Adams in Saudi Arabia and the group business development manager for the firm’s Middle East operations.

“In his capacity as a CEO, he drove and maintained the growth and profitability of construction business in the core UAE market, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Mena region countries,’’ Al-Jaber said in a statement.

He takes on the role as Al-Jaber Group continues to negotiate amendments to its $4bn debt restructuring - which was finalised last year - with a new coordination committee of banks.

The lenders include the local First Gulf Bank (FGB), Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and Union National Bank (UNB) are mandated to revise Al-Jaber Group’s business plan, evaluate working capital and look at the performance bond requirements, a source told MEED in November.

The new creditors’ committee is expected to send the draft of proposed amendments to the wider lender group before the end of this year.

Al-Jaber had signed the debt restructuring agreement with banks in June last year, after being in negotiations for about four years. The total debt was estimated at about AED15bn ($4bn), which includes about AED7.5bn of loans and overdrafts, according to media reports.