The Cibes Lift Group establishes its own company in Dubai and intensifies market operations in the Middle East

The Cibes Lift Group has signed a joint venture agreement with the Al-Qaqa Group on the establishment of a joint venture company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This new company - Cibes Lift MENA DWC-LLC - willintensify marketing efforts for low speed lifts on priority markets in the Middle East, markets such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait. The new company will be a benefit for customers and distributors with closer service and support in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa).

Since 2011, the Cibes Lift Group has operated a network of some 15 distributors in the Middle East. The aim of the new company is to extend cooperation with existing distributors and to expand the network, to establish a sales channel to key market segments and target groups. This will make the Cibes Lift Group the first of the world's manufacturers of low speed lifts to have its own company in the Middle East.

The new company will also extend cooperation between the Cibes Lift Group and the Al-Qaqa Group which, for several years, has been one of our distributors in the Middle East. The company will be headed by Al-Qaqa Group CEO, Khalid Al-Qaqa. The Al-Qaqa Group has, over the last ten years, experienced very rapid growth. The group has more than 600 employees in companies in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia. Operations are divided into six divisions and lift sales are located in their Elevators & Escalators Division.

A new step in our global establishment strategy

Our company in Dubai continues the Cibes Lift Group rapid establishment of companies in countries and regions with large-scale market potential. Over the past three years, new companies have been started up in, for example, Hong Kong, Spain, France and China. This establishment takes place in markets where a local sales channel can acts as a supplement with closer service and support to the distributor network and is considered necessary for effective market penetration and rapid increase in sales volumes.

“We want to increase sales significantly in the Middle East which is a region with good market potential. In order to succeed, we must work closer to the customer, be active in the support we provide for architects and building planners and support our distributors even more than we already do,” states Mats Engblom, CEO of the Cibes Lift Group.

Mats says that the time is right for expanded marketing resources in the Middle East.

“It is a fast-growing region with great potential for our low-speed lifts both in the private housing market and public environments. One important market is Saudi Arabia which accounts for a considerable proportion of all new construction projects in the region. The housing sector is the focus of our efforts, but offices, banks, hospitals and commercial buildings also install many low speed lifts,” continues Mats.

In 2015 the Cibes Lift Group delivered two exclusive low speed lifts to the globally-acclaimed art museum, the Louvre Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Similar lifts have also been installed in many other buildings around the region.

“Our lifts offer the comfort and the opportunity for exclusive design which are often requirements in this region, both for commercial and private buildings. There is also growing interest in technology and solutions that simplify lift installation, provide high security and also save energy. We are way ahead in all these areas, and with our own local company, we will be more active in value-based sales while we can still provide good support in the choice of lift solutions. The fact that we are carrying out this establishment along with the Al-Qaqa Group is a strength as this company is very well known, has vast resources and the essential market knowledge that is so important in the region,” asserts Mats.

The Elevators & Escalators Division of the Al-Qaqa Groupconducts sales operations in several countries. Each year, they sell more than 1,000 lifts and escalators. Lift sales include both conventional and Cibes low speed lifts. Group CEO Khalid Al-Qaqa sees considerable opportunities to increase low speed lift sales.

“This investment together with the Cibes Lift Group is important to us. Cibes is already a strong brand in the region. As a distributor, we have built up good knowledge of the company's lifts and with a joint venture company as a platform, we will be able to act even more aggressively and cover a larger share of the market. The combination of a sales channel and increased support to distributors in the region means that I am very optimistically regarding our market opportunities” states Mr. Khalid Al-Qaqa.

For more information, please contact:

CEO Mats Engblom, Cibes Lift Group, +46 26 17 14 00

CEOKhalid Al-Qaqa, Cibes Lift MENA DWC-LLC,+971 4 8870740