ANC Holdings LLC, the Dubai based conglomerate with business interests in construction, foods, education, trading, hospitality, process and real estate, has announced the strategic acquisition of a majority stake in Amusement Whitewater LLC (AWW), the regional leader in design, supply and execution of themed environments. AWW are the creators of The Lost Chambers, Atlantis, and the complete internal alpine theming of Ski Dubai. AWW, with its new partners ANC and Abu Dhabi based Flag Holdings, will form the world’s leading provider of fully integrated, turnkey solutions for themed environments such as tourist resorts, theme/water parks and animal habitats.
AWW has been involved in various landmark retail destinations and tourist projects such as The Lost City in South Africa; The Lost Chambers and Aquaventure water park at The Atlantis, Wild Wadi, Madinat Jumeirah, Ski Dubai and the Ibn Battuta Shopping Mall in Dubai; Sharjah Aquarium and The Sharjah Wild Life Center in Sharjah.
The new ownership structure will allow AWW to continue with the conceptualization, artistic design and direction, value-engineering and execution of themed projects while drawing upon ANC’s expertise to provide structural design, construction and project management, thereby offering customers wholly integrated solutions to even their most ambitious themed projects.
Tayeb Baker, Chairman, ANC Holdings said: “Over the years AWW has been critically involved in delivering Dubai’s promise of becoming the top global tourist destination in the region while ANC, through its construction related businesses, has played a significant role in shaping the Dubai’s iconic skyline. It is easy to see the synergies. We are immensely proud to have AWW join the ANC Group and to work together on even greater projects in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and beyond.”
Ahmed Al Serkal, Director of Flag Holdings, said: “Given Abu Dhabi’s ambitious plans to develop its tourist sector, we firmly believe that AWW, with its strong credentials of creativity, expertise and experience will play a major part in turning these ambitions into reality.”
Adds Faris Baker, Vice Chairman, ANC Holdings: “AWW has designed and built marvelous themed environments that have set the benchmark for creativity and quality within the industry. This is a perfect fit with ANC’s philosophy of innovation and quality.”
“Our arrival in the ANC family is great news for everyone at AWW and for our clients”, said Duarte Marques, Founder and CEO, AWW. “It really gives us an incredible competitive edge as it allows AWW to offer turnkey solutions that are not only more cost and time efficient but can also be project managed more effectively”, he added. “Dubai has witnessed the handover of many themed projects over the past years but is still not even close to saturation. Abu Dhabi, on the other hand, is strongly accelerating the pace of development of its tourism and retail sectors. With ANC and Flag, we have found the ideal partners for growth, which has positioned us uniquely to turn our clients’ boldest creative ideas into reality.”
ANC Holdings has in the recent past forged several alliances and strategic partnerships with leading players in the food, education, trading, real estate and hospitality sectors.
