Abu Dhabi Ports executive appointed as Arabtec’s acting CFO

Dubai: Arabtec Holding, the Dubai-listed construction firm, announced on Tuesday the appointment of Adel Al Wahedi as its acting chief financial officer.

This news comes two months after the group’s former CFO vacated his position to temporarily take on the role of chief executive officer from Hamish Tyrwhitt, who stepped down from the job. Arabtec at the time provided no details on why Tyrwhitt left the company.

In its statement on Tuesday, Arabtec referred to Pollard as its group CEO rather than an acting CEO, and said the new CFO will help deliver the company’s strategic priorities. For the rest of this year, these priorities will include debt refinancing, collection of receivables, shortening payment cycles and improving working capital.

Arabtec also said it plans to diversify its backlog in the infrastructure and industrial sectors, focusing on the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and Kuwait.

Al Wahedi joins Arabtec from Abu Dhabi Ports Company where he worked on turning around financial performance over the last six years. Prior to that, he was the chief financial officer of Petrofac Emirates, Mubadala Petroleum and deputy CFO of Etisalat Misr, a subsidiary of Etisalat UAE.