Domopan keen on QE junior bourse listing, eyes expansion

By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter

Domopan, which is planning to double the production capacity of its fire-resistant gypsum panels to 1.2mn sq m, is keen to get listed at the Qatar Exchange’s junior bourse ‘Venture Market’.

“We are definitely interested to get there,” Domopan CEO Fouad Hamdan said when asked whether the company was interested in seeking a listing at the QE’s junior bourse.

The QE last year established a separate stand-alone junior bourse for small and medium enterprises ‘QE Venture Market,’ stipulating eased entry norms as well as lower capital base and shareholders.

However, he said the company, which has already set up a factory in Saudi Arabia and planning to have another one in Oman, has not undertaken any due diligence.

Domopan, which has invested QR80mn and currently produces 600,000sq m of gypsum panels, is planning to double its capacity as it finds “promising” potential in view of the heavy demand for its locally manufactured and internationally certified product.

“We are in talks with some banks and one of them is Doha Bank,” Hamdan said when asked about how the company would fund the expansion plans.

The company - which had undertaken major works in Porto Arabia (Pearl Qatar), Museum of Islamic Arts and Souq Waqif Hotel - claims that its Domogypsum, which is made of fibre and gypsum, is approved by Qatar’s General Administration of Civil Defence at the Ministry of Interior and the Qatar Civil Defence Department’s approval for two-hour fire resistivity.

The company last year received approval from the loss prevention certification board (LPCB) – a global benchmark for industrial standards – and the panels are now authorised to be sold in European regional markets also, according to Hamdan.

Seeking to garner a considerable market share in the years to come, he said DomoGypsum has been a success since the day the first panel first its factory in 2008.