Malaysia

The Petronas Twin Towers, the KL Light Rail Transit (LRT), the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, and the North-South Expressway are just a few well-known structures on a long list of projects that have shaped the face of present-day Malaysia. And Ranhill Berhad has helped build each of those as an integrated engineering and construction firm.

Ranhill was established in 1973 from an engineering partnership with Australian company Rankine & Hill. It has since grown into Malaysia's largest engineering conglomerate, boasting broad expertise and a track record that ensures the company a key role in most of the country's crucial infrastructure-provision projects.

From its Malaysian origins, Ranhill has since grown into a global engineering and construction group that secures flagship projects throughout the Middle East, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and the Far East.

lr. Kamarulzaman Omar, chief operating officer of Ranhill

The group's overseas business is expected to further expand as it identifies opportunities in infrastructure, oil and gas, and utilities with the reconstruction of and the lifting of trade sanctions on Iraq and some other countries.

Ranhill has an excellent record in managing and implementing infrastructure-critical projects. For example, it secured a 30-year concession to source, treat, and supply water to the Malaysian state of Johor. It plans to invest nearly $ 3.7 billion dollars to increase the treatment and distribution capacity of Johor by 1.337 million liters a day.

Talks are also underway for associated company Ranhill Utilities to build water treatments plants in Tamil Nadu, India. Other possible projects in Lebanon (water supply and sewerage) and Indonesia are being evaluated as well.

In the energy sector, Ranhill announced plans to acquire EPE Power Corporation, a formerly state-owned and run power generation plant in the Malaysian state of Sabah. The acquisition will allow Ranhill to boost the facility's capacity from the current 120MW open cycle to a 180MW combined cycle.

Ranhill's boasts a comprehensive range of technical know-how and management expertise in a wide range of activities, such as oil and gas, infrastructure and utilities (power and water), transportation (railways, roads, and bridges), logistics (ports, harbors and airports), healthcare, and education.

Hamdan Mohamad, president and chief executive of Ranhill

A fully integrated enterprise, the group offers engineering, procurement, project management services and turnkey construction, facilities management, development and ownership of projects.

After listing on the main board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange in 2001, Ranhill received a citation as "Malaysia's Best Newly Listed Company" from the Asiamoney Magazine that same year.

For the fiscal year ending June 2002, Ranhill recorded a turnover of $163.4 million dollars, up 46.1 percent from the previous $111.8 million dollars. Meanwhile, Ranhill Utilities boosted its revenue by 5 percent over the previous year to $94.5 million dollars in the fiscal year ending December 30, 2002.

And, the future looks bright. In its February 2003 report, JP Morgan Malaysia gave the group a strong vote of confidence, saying: "We believe Ranhill has the makings of an infrastructure giant."

Today, the group has over 1,500 successfully completed projects under its belt and retains a total of 3,400-strong workforce of highly skilled employees.

Ranhill has proven itself a worthy partner to leading companies such as Black & Veatch, Bechtel and Fluor Daniel and has benefited from a strong and continued association with these technology leaders. This has opened the door for further collaborations with these and other similar multinational companies into the years ahead.

"With our extensive experience in nation-building activities, we understand the sensitivities involved," said Executive Director and Group COO Kamarulzaman Omar. "Malaysians have a unique mindset that allows political issues to be approached in a constructive, engaging manner. We can differentiate our group on the basis of a better understanding of the needs of developing nations."

Should Ranhill's targets in this area be achieved, the group will move even closer to the vision set by its president and chief executive, Hamdan Mohamad, who has been leading the company to become "a multi-faceted organization contributing to the building of a new Malaysia, (while) being strategically positioned to expand globally, crossing all cultures and boundaries."

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