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Sunday, 5 March 2023

Sawiris partners with local, Emirati players to redevelop Morocco hotel

Samih Sawiris is leading the redevelopment in Morocco of the Mogador resort in Essaouira, Morocco, in a drive worth upwards of MAD 4 bn, according to the Moroccan News Agency. Sawiris is leading a consortium of four investors, the news agency says.

The players: Sawiris will invest through SOSTNT, his Luxembourg-based investment company, a source close to the matter told Enterprise. The three other investors are Emirati investment company Al Nowais, Egyptian hotel chain Sunrise Resorts & Cruises, and Belgium-based construction company Besix, a subsidiary of the Sawiris family’s Orascom Construction, our source said. The consortium signed an agreement to “revive” the activities of a firm named Societe D’aménagement D’essaouira Mogador (SAEMOG), which owns the seaside resort. Several Moroccan ministers and officials also signed the agreement.

The project: The consortium will renovate the existing hotel, convert its clubhouse into a boutique hotel and build a new clubhouse. It will also develop the town’s Club Med hotel and three other hotels on the beachfront, create a commercial area, and build a number of other real estate projects. This sounds to us conceptually similar to the turnaround that Sawiris brought to Andermatt in Switzerland.

Background: Samih Sawiris stepped down as chairman of SIX Swiss Exchange-listed resorts giant Orascom Development Holding last May, passing the top job to his son, Naguib Samih Sawiris. The elder Sawiris led the creation of ODH’s popular upscale Red Sea holiday destination El Gouna and a number of other resorts on the Red Sea coast.

CORRECTION-

This story has been corrected to reflect that the redevelopment of the Mogador resort could be worth upwards of MAD 4 bn, not as much as AED 4 bn as we wrote previously.

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