THE United Arab Emirates is merging its two flagship state aluminum firms to create the world's fifth largest aluminum company with an enterprise value of US$15 billion.

The merger will improve efficiency and help the emirate's aluminum industry better compete with rivals in the region. UAE has been planning the move for three years.

The new entity, Emirates Global Aluminium, will be jointly held by Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) and Emirates Aluminium (Emal). Dubal is owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD,) while Emal is a joint venture between Abu Dhabi state sovereign fund Mubadala and ICD.

"Emirates Global Aluminium will build on strong foundations of leadership, to become a major industrial champion and engine of economic development for our people," Khaldoon Khalifa al-Mubarak, CEO of Mubadala, and the chairman of the new entity said in the statement.

In 2011, Dubal Chairman Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, a ruling family member, was quoted by a local newspaper as saying that Mubadala had offered to buy a stake in Dubal, without providing more details.

The merged entity will have an aluminium production capacity of 2.4 million tonnes per year after the completion of Emal's phase two operations in mid-2014, the statement said.

Emal is set to complete its US$4 billion phase two by the end of 2014, when its capacity will rise to 1.3 million tonnes from 800,000 tonnes a year now.