{"id":103365,"date":"2025-12-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/?p=103365"},"modified":"2025-12-25T04:28:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T04:28:45","slug":"dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/","title":{"rendered":"Dream of the Desert gets Italian backing, BinDawood expands in UAE, and Fipco diversifies into construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

!_ImageURLWeb_! https:\/\/ent.news\/2025\/12\/1256.jpg<\/p>\n

\n

Italian backers finance Dream of the Desert<\/p>\n

The Dream of the Desert luxury train project developer Arsenale Group sealed <\/strong>a strategic agreement with Simest<\/strong> \u2014 an Italian state-owned financial institution backing Italian enterprises' offshore expansion \u2014 for a EUR 37 mn (c. SAR 163 mn) joint equity investment, Simest said in a press release<\/a> on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Cost updated:<\/strong> The new funding is estimated to be half of the current project\u2019s budget at some SAR 317 mn. The other half will be funded by a SAR 154 mn from the Saudi Tourism Development Fund.<\/p>\n

Launch date, too: <\/strong>First trips on the ultra-luxury route from Riyadh to Al Qurayyat have also been pushed to late 2026, from an initial target of this year.<\/p>\n

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links<\/strong> to our background and outside sources.)<\/p>\n

\n

BinDawood buys into UAE\u2019s Wonder Bakery<\/p>\n

BinDawood Holdings\u2019 expansion spree continues as it acquires a 51% stake in <\/strong>Dubai-based <\/strong>Wonder Bakery<\/a><\/strong> for AED 96.9 mn (SAR 99 mn)<\/strong>, it said in a filing to the bourse<\/a> yesterday. BinDawood seeks a more integrated supply chain for its retail business, along with a plan to bring the technical and operational know-how to the Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Established in 2014<\/strong>, Wonder Bakery produces up to 50k tons of bakery and kitchen products annually, serving GCC countries like Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait.<\/p>\n

The bigger picture:<\/strong> BinDawood put forth a SAR 1.5 bn expansion plan<\/a> with unnamed strategic partners two years ago, aiming to boost its e-commerce infrastructure, strengthen supply chains, and integrate robotics into store operations.<\/p>\n

\n

Fipco looks to diversify into construction with Bina takeover<\/p>\n

Filling & Packing Materials Manufacturing Co. (Fipco) is scaling up into the construction <\/strong>supply chain by fully acquiring Bina Industrial Holding for SAR 364.5 mn<\/strong>, it said in a disclosure to the exchange<\/a>. The merger \u2014 first announced in June<\/a> \u2014 is structured as a share swap that will see Fipco\u2019s shares and capital nearly doubling from SAR 115 mn to SAR 227.7 mn, with the owners of Bina snapping 49.5% of the new entity.<\/p>\n

IN CONTEXT-<\/strong> The manufacturer of plastic and woven packing materials will gain access to the Kingdom\u2019s construction sector via Bina\u2019s portfolio \u2014 including Bina Precast, Bina ReadyMix, Bina Engineering, and Bina Homes. Fipco\u2019s Chairman Ahmed Al Barrak is also the CEO of Bina and holds a 70% stake in Bina Engineering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new funding is estimated to be half of Dream of the Desert\u2019s budget<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2564],"tags":[54,665,10],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-103365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-also-on-our-radar","tag-also-on-our-radar","tag-dream-of-the-desert","tag-enterpriseam-ksa","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"0d7bb76f-6301-477e-8160-fad31224517e","order":"9","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Dream of the Desert gets Italian backing, BinDawood expands in UAE, and Fipco diversifies into construction","related_issue":[103350],"teaser":"The new funding is estimated to be half of Dream of the Desert\u2019s budget"},"yoast_head":"\nDream of the Desert gets Italian backing, BinDawood expands in UAE, and Fipco diversifies into construction - KSA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dream of the Desert gets Italian backing, BinDawood expands in UAE, and Fipco diversifies into construction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The new funding is estimated to be half of Dream of the Desert\u2019s budget\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"KSA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-25T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-25T04:28:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\"},\"headline\":\"Dream of the Desert gets Italian backing, BinDawood expands in UAE, and Fipco diversifies into construction\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-25T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-25T04:28:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/\"},\"wordCount\":403,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"ALSO ON OUR RADAR\",\"Dream of the Desert\",\"EnterpriseAM KSA\"],\"articleSection\":[\"ALSO ON OUR RADAR\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/\",\"name\":\"Dream of the Desert gets Italian backing, BinDawood expands in UAE, and Fipco diversifies into construction - KSA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-25T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-25T04:28:45+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dream of the Desert gets Italian backing, BinDawood expands in UAE, and Fipco diversifies into construction\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/\",\"name\":\"KSA\",\"description\":\"The State of the Nation\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#organization\",\"name\":\"KSA\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42482.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42482.svg\",\"caption\":\"KSA\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\",\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/author\/enterpriseam\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dream of the Desert gets Italian backing, BinDawood expands in UAE, and Fipco diversifies into construction - KSA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dream of the Desert gets Italian backing, BinDawood expands in UAE, and Fipco diversifies into construction","og_description":"The new funding is estimated to be half of Dream of the Desert\u2019s budget","og_url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/","og_site_name":"KSA","article_published_time":"2025-12-25T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-25T04:28:45+00:00","author":"enterpriseam admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"enterpriseam admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/"},"author":{"name":"enterpriseam admin","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d"},"headline":"Dream of the Desert gets Italian backing, BinDawood expands in UAE, and Fipco diversifies into construction","datePublished":"2025-12-25T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-25T04:28:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/"},"wordCount":403,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#organization"},"keywords":["ALSO ON OUR RADAR","Dream of the Desert","EnterpriseAM KSA"],"articleSection":["ALSO ON OUR RADAR"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/","name":"Dream of the Desert gets Italian backing, BinDawood expands in UAE, and Fipco diversifies into construction - KSA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-25T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-25T04:28:45+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/12\/25\/dream-of-the-desert-gets-italian-backing-bindawood-expands-in-uae-and-fipco-diversifies-into-construction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dream of the Desert gets Italian backing, BinDawood expands in UAE, and Fipco diversifies into construction"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/","name":"KSA","description":"The State of the Nation","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#organization","name":"KSA","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42482.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42482.svg","caption":"KSA"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d","name":"enterpriseam admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com"],"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/author\/enterpriseam\/"}]}},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"enterpriseam admin","author_link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/author\/enterpriseam\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103392,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103365\/revisions\/103392"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue\/103350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103365"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=103365"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=103365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}