Orascom Development aiming to buy 2 mn sqm of land in the North Coast
Orascom Development is looking to acquire 2 mn sqm of land in the North Coast for a Gouna-type resort, CEO Khaled Bichara said in a statement to the press. Bichara kept details to a minimum, adding only that a contract had been signed with another private sector company to co-develop the land but that work is still very early stage. Bichara said the company’s global land bank amounted to 100 mn sqm, adding that it is one of the largest investors in Swiss property with 1 mn sqm of land, according to Al Mal.
Speaking on the sale of Tamweel Financial Holding, Bichara said that the company expects to complete the transaction in 1Q2018, and that the company was still mulling its offers. We had noted last month that the company had received four bids on Tamweel. Orascom Development had blamed rising interest rates for the sale. EFG Hermes is sell-side advisor on the transaction.
Commenting on the company’s 3Q2017 results, Bichara said in a statement to Enterprise that the quarter proved the success of our new management strategy toward a destination based model. “We will continue to build on this operational win and we foresee a positive quarter ahead of us. In parallel we are working towards reducing our debt by a further EGP 700 mn to EGP 1 bn,” he added.