SAUDI BINLADIN GROUP

The origins of the Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) date back to the formation of the Mohammad Binladin Organization by the late Mohammad Awad Binladin in 1931. This company was established as a general contracting company around the time of the formation of the Kingdom of and has taken its part in the major infrastructure developments such as roads, bridges, airports, tunnels, housing, hotels, hospitals, universities, power plants and desalination plants that have transformed that country. The newly titled Saudi Binladin Group was formed when it was recognised that the scope of works being undertaken by the original company had outgrown its management structure thus the company was reformed into a total of ten autonomous operating divisions each capable of carrying out projects in their own right or co-ordinating with other divisions to bid for the truly major projects which have become the hallmark of the Saudi Binladin Group. The operation of these divisions is overseen by a corporate structure based in the group headquarters in , Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The newly structured group has seen turnover grow from some One Billion One

Hundred and Twenty Five Million Saudi Page 1 Riyals (US Dollars 300,000,000) in 1985 through a peak of Seven Billion Five Hundred Million Saudi Riyals (US Dollars 2,000,000,000) in 1992, the current (2004) turnover of some Four Billion Three Hundred and Three Million Saudi Riyals (US Dollars 1,147,467,000). Consummate with this has been the rise in the total number of employees which reached to over forty eight thousand at its peak while currently standing at some forty thousand, of which over two thousand one hundred are professionally qualified engineers enabling the Group not only to undertake the normal contracting activities but to offer potential clients a design and build option by using the most advanced management, engineering and procurement system. The total quality approach to its projects has seen the Saudi Binladin Group gain ISO 9001:1994, ISO 9002/EN ISO 9002/ANSI/ASQC Q9002 and ISO 9002:1994 certification.

Of the many prestigious projects completed by the Group the most notable was the extension of the Two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah on behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud in which Saudi Binladin Group was able to utilise its design and build capability to its fullest extent in using innovative solutions to provide an air- conditioned environment for the pilgrims at Madinah and at both locations to install the highest quality finishes such as marbles, granites and other decorative finishes from its own factories.

Page 2 The latter operation where material is taken from SBG’s own production facilities shown a broadening of the normal main contractor’s approach where the SBG has established its own factories for the production of marble and granite, artificial stone, metal art work, gypsum and glass reinforced concrete, joinery, drapery and conventional precast concrete. This means that SBG can meet the extremely tight timescales dictated by our clients and at the same time feel comfortable about the quality of product supplied. Where SBG needs to go outside the group for materials, a network of procurement offices has been established either through local offices, subsidiary or affiliated companies to enable a world wide search for the particular materials and systems specified for each project. Similarly, materials when procured from outside sources are delivered by a network of integrated freight forwarding and transport companies to ensure the least possible delays in the delivery process. The whole of the procurement / delivery procedures is co- ordinated through the main offices in Jeddah, K.S.A. Speed and quality of construction depends not only on the availability of a pool of skilled human resources but also on access to construction plant and equipment totaling some four thousand eight hundred major pieces of wholly owned fleet deployed throughout the Group’s current projects both in the kingdom and internationally in countries such as Jordan, , Egypt, Yemen and Malaysia where Page 3 Saudi Binladin is involved in the construction of major international projects. Availability of these resources has allowed a significant diversification of projects to be undertaken in the Group’s home market of the Middle East where our current order book contains projects ranging from the Operation and Maintenance of eight airports, petroleum and petrochemical industry, Development of King Abdul Aziz Endowment Project (Abraj Al Bait) with a value of Ten Billion & Three Hundred Million Saudi Riyals (US Dollars 2,746,667,000), Development of Jamarat Bridges & Surrounding Areas with a value of Four Billion Two Hundred Million Saudi Riyals, administration Buildings project for MOI with a value of SR Seven Billion and twenty One Million Saudi Riyals, major extensions to existing power generation plants, the construction of major hotels in Makkah and Madinah, touristic projects in Jeddah, Universities in Makkah and Sharjah, Airports in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Sudan, and Egypt, to the infrastructure works such as roads and bridges which formed the basis on which the original company was founded, as well as construction work for gas and oil pipeline and petroleum petrochemical projects.

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