Baladna, a Qatari public shareholding company under incorporation announced that its subsidiary Baladna Food Industries (BFI), has unveiled significant investment in new, state-of-the art facilities at its Umm Al-Hawaya dairy farm.

The investment comes as Baladna has announced an IPO to enable Qatari citizens and corporates to share in the company’s rapid growth and expansion.

Following the blockade in June 2017, BFI embarked on an extensive programme of significant investment in infrastructure development, plant and machinery to increase production capacity and achieve self-sufficiency in its dairy and juice production.

BFI’s facilities at Umm Al-Hawaya now consist of two separate dairy farms, six milking areas, forty barns, three dairy and juice factories, a plastics factory, an animal feed processing facility, a water treatment facility, and a compost processing facility.

Earlier this year, the company expanded production to its newly-built dairy production facility, which has a maximum daily capacity of 500,000-600,000 litres/day, approximately double the production capacity of the existing facilities.

The expansion of production facilities has also resulted in the construction of 40 barns, built to ensure maximum animal comfort and house BFI’s growing herd of approximately 18,000 cows.

The investment has also extended to six new milking parlours with the most technologically advanced systems and processes. BFI estimates that its total facilities (Plants 1, 2, and 3), operating at maximum output, can process 700,000-900,000 litres of beverages per day, which is enough to cover the entire daily demand for dairy products in Qatar.

BFI does not operate at full capacity and does not intend to (its highest daily production volume for dairy in 2019 was 350,000 litres; for juices, 20,000 litres), but its actual average daily output, as at April 2019, was approximately three times greater than its average daily output in April 2018.

Dr Kamel Abdallah, chief executive officer, Baladna commented, “Baladna has well and truly established itself as the market leader in Qatar’s fresh dairy industry and is one of the country’s best loved brands.

“Our significant investment in state-of-the-art facilities is enabling us to increase production of existing dairy products and new juice products, and positions Baladna well for future expansion and a bright future. This IPO is a one-of-a kind opportunity for Qataris to share in our rapid expansion and growth and help us realise our ambition to establish a local market leader in the fresh dairy market.”

Investment in state-of-the-art equipment and machinery will also mean that fresh juice beverages can now be produced at the company’s facilities, and enable Baladna to continue to expand its range of products to meet the demands of consumers.

As part of the investment programme, Baladna has also moved to secure self-sufficiency of key supplies including water and plastic packaging.

Additionally, the plastic packaging requirements of the majority of dairy and juice products are now met through a recently constructed packaging factory that will be fully operational in the second half of 2019. It is expected that in the future, the packaging factory will also enable Baladna to satisfy market demand for high-density plastic bottles which will open up lucrative new business opportunities for the company.

As a result of Baladna’s significant expansion programme, the increased production capacity has led to a substantial increase in revenue, and is driving the company’s growth strategy for an expanded range of products including long-life dairy and juice products.

The company is now planning an IPO on the Qatar Stock Exchange, which will see Baladna incorporated as a public shareholding company to own 100% of Baladna Food Industries.

Until November 7, Qatari individual and corporate investors will be able to subscribe to shares in the offering, the proceeds of which are intended to finance the company’s recent expansion.