Siniora buys UAE’s DMP, eyes GCC growth

31-May-2016 - Last updated on 01-Jun-2016 at 10:05 GMT

Siniora CEO: 'This will add to Siniora’s portfolio, to help us continue our growth in the same way as we have in Jordan and Palestine...' ©iStock

Palestinian meat producer Siniora has bought the UAE firm Diamond Meat Processing (DMP) in a deal worth US$17m, in order to expand into the UAE and wider GCC.

Siniora currently operates two factories in Jordan and Palestine, where it is the market leader with a 65-70% market share in Palestine and a 55% share in Jordan. But the company sees greater prospects for growth in the wider region, according to CEO Majdi Sharif.

“As we see in Jordan and Palestine, growth is going to be minimal as we are the market leader in the categories we operate in. Looking forward, as we have pushed Siniora to be a regional player in the field of meat processing, we see this acquisition in Dubai as adding a lot to Siniora,” he said.

“DMP is well-established in Dubai, with a good market share and good distribution in the UAE. This will add to Siniora’s portfolio, to help us continue our growth in the same way as we have in Jordan and Palestine – we’ll grow in the UAE as our prime objective, and then into all GCC countries,” added Sharif.

Horeca boom, and wider expansion

DMP’s main strength is in the UAE’s horeca segment, which Siniora expects to boom with the ever-growing number of international hotels, and Dubai’s Expo 2020 in the near future. Along with DMP’s established Al-Masa brand, Siniora plans to offer its own products through its new acquisition.

“We will continue to have Al-Masa’s range as today, and continue to improve it and add new products. But the Siniora brand is also very well known in the Gulf market – so what we will be doing in the future is to start producing our products in the UAE as well,” said Sharif.

“That will extend the strength of the company, by producing both brands – Al-Masa will continue on its track, and when we start producing Siniora brands in that facility, we will gain access to new segments and channels as a local company, that we wouldn’t be able to reach from Palestine or Jordan,” he added.

Developing the Al-Masa brand

Sharif said Siniora was planning to invest in building up DMP’s presence in the UAE: “We know they have a good market share in retail in the UAE, and we are going to work with DMP to make it the market leader – and we expect growth to come from developing the brand further, spending more on marketing. We see huge opportunities for Al-Masa to become a well-known brand in the UAE.

“We are looking forward to DMP to being a contributor to Siniora – it’s a well-established profitable company, and is going to be adding a lot of expertise. DMP is producing some products we’re not doing in Siniora, so we’ll be exchanging expertise between both companies,” he added.

Siniora, a subsidiary of the Arab Palestinian Investment Company, partnered with Emerging Investment Partners to purchase DMP, which was formerly owned by ETA Star House Group and Al Ghurair. The firms completed the purchase at the start of April this year.