Saudi Arabia’s Almarai has expressed interest in buying a controlling stake in the UAE’s National Food Products Company (NFPC).

NFPC has initiated a competitive sale process and has invited Almarai, an investment holding firm whose business interests span food and agriculture sectors, to conduct due diligence, Almarai said in a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), where its shares are traded.

NFPC is among the top food and dairy manufacturers and distributors in the UAE, and markets brands including Milco, Lacnor and Oasis bottled water. The company broke ground for its new 752,000 square-metre production facility in Abu Dhabi’s Kizad freezone, which upon completion in the first quarter of 2018 will manufacture most of its brands.

“Should this process proceed further, Almarai will make the necessary public announcements,’’ the company said in the bourse filing.

Almarai, the biggest dairy firm in the Gulf, operates through its subsidiaries in several countries including Argentina, Jordan, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, the US, Spain and Egypt.

The company was looking to raise SR2bn ($533m) of Islamic bonds in August last year to part-fund its SR21bn investment programme over the next five years, according to a bourse statement. However it ended up securing $426m in a private offering to the UK- and Saudi-based investors, according to media reports.