MULK Holdings, a UAE-based diversified conglomerate, has made inroads into the Indian market by winning a number of cladding contracts for large projects including major airports.

India is developing or renovating around 200 airports in the coming years and Alubond seems to have become a preferred choice for these projects, says Shaji Ul Mulk, chairman of Mulk Holdings, which owns the Alubond USA brand of composite panels globally.

The company’s current order book for projects in India stands at more than $8.3 million.

These include the supply of Alubond USA composite panels at Bengaluru and Kolkata international airports worth $3.2 million and supply and fabrication of the panels at the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) in India worth a further $1 million.

“These contracts are a strong endorsement of Alubond USA composite panels and reflect a growing demand for our products all over the world including India – where construction activities are picking up. We are happy to be able to meet the growing demand for environment-friendly Alubond USA composite panels in India which are being rolled out of our new manufacturing plant here,” says Ul Mulk.

NMIA will be one of the world’s largest greenfield state-of-the-art international airports, offering world-class facilities for passengers, cargo, aircraft and airlines.

Alubond USA will supply around 20,000 sq m of internal and external applications in the airport, including special fabricated stainless steel panels for the interiors.

Bengaluru International Airport serves the city of Bangalore, one of India’s largest technology hubs in the state of Karnataka. For the financial year 2011-12, it was the fourth busiest airport in the country in terms of overall passenger traffic of 12.69 million and fifth busiest in terms of international passenger traffic.

“This is a landmark project and, therefore, is of great importance to Alubond USA,” says Ul Mulk.

The contract was awarded by Mero Asia, a Singapore-based contractor. The total quantity of composite panels supplied to this project was 25,000 sq m worth $800,000. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.

Kolkata International Airport is the largest such facility in eastern India. Alubond supplied 100,000 sq m of material worth $2.4 million following a job order from both the contractors, Innovators and Star Alubuild.

“Alubond is a popular brand not only in the private sector but is also preferred by government organisations like Airport Authority of India (AAI),” he says. “Consultants and contractors and even government organisations like AAI are increasingly relying on the environment-friendly and fire-retardant panels for complete protection of the civil structures, comfort and beauty.”

In terms of international airports experience, Alubond has supplied to Hurghada International and Sharm El Sheikh airports in Cairo, both in Egypt; Dubai International Airport Phase Two; and Sharjah International Airport.

Meanwhile in India, the company has secured contracts worth $2.8 million for a number of other projects in several information technology parks, with clients including Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services in Pune, Kochi, Bhuvaneshwar and Chennai.

Alubond has also been selected to supply its composite panels worth $0.8 million to new hospitality projects being developed by Taj Hotels and Oberoi Hotels, and a further contract worth $0.5 million for Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Alubond aluminium composite panels (ACPs) are offered in three core types:

• Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) often black or dark grey colour;

• Mineral core with polyethylene additive – fire-rated (FR) class B – a flame-retardant material, which is self-extinguishing. White or light grey colour, it develops a certain amount of smoke when exposed to fire; and

• Mineral core – FR class A2 – a nonflammable material, which is white or light grey in colour with visible traces of ground stone.

The panels are available in widths of 1,000 mm, 1,250 mm and 1,500 mm; any length up to 6,000 mm and thicknesses of 2 mm to 6 mm, although thicknesses that are commonly used in building facades and wall cladding are 4 mm (with aluminium skin of thickness of 0.5 mm for application in façades of medium and large screens) – and 3 mm (with aluminium skin of thickness of 0.3 mm for application in lining interior walls, and exterior façades of small screens).

Composite panels come in aluminium – standard, fire-rated and environment-friendly versions – and stainless steel.

Mulk Holdings, a Dh2.8-billion ($762 million) annual turnover company, has diversified business interests in manufacturing aluminium composite panels, solar panels, development of solar power plants as well as a wide network of high-end diagnostic centres with telemedicine capability.

Alubond USA has, over the years, emerged as the world’s largest metal composite brand with production bases in Europe, Middle East, and India. The new production bases in Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia have increased its installed production capacity of metal composite panels to more than 15 million sq m and coil coating capacity to over 20,000 tonnes per annum.

Mulk Holdings is also a major player in interiors and furnishing businesses. It has a network of operations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, Europe, the US, India, Sri Lanka and China.