Bahrain-based International Investment Bank has acquired a 14.29% strategic equity stake in a sugar refinery to be established in Bahrain in the Hidd industrial area. The refinery will be the first of its kind in the Kingdom and the third in the GCC. The sugar refinery, to be established at an estimated cost of $157m, is expected to be operational in two years and will manufacture white sugar to be marketed in the Middle East and European markets. The refinery will have an annual production of 585,000 tons of white sugar, according to a press statement.