Despite the political turmoil that Egypt faced in 2011, Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) remains the highest placed construction company in the MEED 100 for 2012. In 2010, the firm climbed 20 places to reach 19th position, with a market capitalisation of $9.3bn.

After remaining at 19 in 2011, it has slipped two places to 21 in 2012, with its market capitalisation falling minimally to $9bn.

OCI comprises two business divisions: construction and fertilisers. The construction group contains two fully owned businesses – OCI and Contrack International. The company also owns a 50 per cent stake in Belgium’s Besix Group. OCI’s continued success in the face of political instability is due to its and Besix’s ability to win work in the region’s emerging markets, particularly Saudi Arabia, the GCC’s largest construction market.

Winning construction contracts

In September 2011, Besix won an estimated SR2bn contract to build a 60,000-seat stadium at the King Abdullah Sports City development near Jeddah.

Having established its presence in Egypt’s construction industry over the course of 60 years, OCI was one of the first construction firms to win work as the political situation in the North African country improved towards the end of 2011. In December, it was awarded an estimated $810m contract to build the third phase of the Egyptian Grand Museum.

Orascom’s success in the face of political instability is due to its ability to win work in emerging markets

Saudi Arabia’s Southern Province Cement Company was able to take advantage of the kingdom’s construction boom to rise 37 places to 59 in the MEED rankings, with a market capitalisation of $3.5bn. After dropping to 96 in 2011, from 72 in 2010, the firm was able to recover to its highest ever position.

The Saudi cement industry was well represented in the rankings, with three of its firms featuring among the five construction companies listed in the table. Saudi Cement Company entered the top 100 at position 62, with a market capitalisation of $3.5bn. Yamama Saudi Cement Company completed the Saudi construction sector’s representation, entering the list at 81.

By July 2011, year-on-year cement sales in Saudi Arabia were up by 15 per cent to 4.2 million tonnes and demand is expected to continue to grow as the kingdom undertakes an unprecedented construction programme. With $143bn-worth of construction and infrastructure projects in the pipeline, the largest Saudi cement companies are likely to hold onto their place in the MEED 100 list for the foreseeable future.

Casablanca’s Lafarge Ciments is placed at 70 with a market capitalisation of $3.1bn, having slipped 22 places from 48th position in 2011. The fall may partly be a result of the unrest in Syria where the firm opened a major cement plant in October 2010.

However, the company is hoping to benefit from its investment in Iraq’s cement sector in the coming years as it gears up to undertake a reconstruction effort. In 2010, Lafarge launched a $200m project to upgrade a cement plant in Karbala with the aim of increasing the annual capacity of the facility from 200,000 tonnes to 2 million tonnes.