Arabtec wins AED195mn contract for Hanging Gardens

Arabtec has earmarked Egypt as a market fit for growth.

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Arabtec Egypt for Construction, a subsidiary of Arabtec Holding, has won an AED195 million contract from Amer Group to build the Hanging Gardens project in Egypt, according to a statement to the Dubai bourse today.

The project is likely to be worth “in excess of AED195 million” and is scheduled to take 14 months to building. It will consist of six residential buildings containing 726 apartments at Golf Porto Sokhna, a coastal holiday resort overlooking the Red Sea.

It was likely that there would be a business link up between the two companies since comments by the Egyptian firm’s chairman, Mansour Amer, who also serves as chief executive at Amer Group, who told news reporters of the prospective plans in the capital recently, according to Bloomberg.

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Amer called the north African state “one of the great six emerging economies for investment”, citing the Economic Intelligence Unit, and said the construction sector grew 13% last year. The partnership with Arabtec, he said, “provides the Egyptian market with a very strong alternative when it comes to quality construction choices for residential, infrastructure and commercial projects”.

Riad Kamal, CEO of Arabtec Holding, said the contract win was part of the company’s strategy to diversify away from the UAE. “We are delighted to work with the Amer Group as our partners. We have a great respect of each other’s aspirations, expectations and standards,” he said in a statement.

Egypt will be on the agenda at Arabtec Holding’s board of directors meeting on Tuesday, according to preliminary details released to the Dubai stock exchange. Angola and Bahrain will also be discussed as ‘new territories’, along with an approval of the company’s third-quarter financial results.

Arabtec Holding fell more than 1.75% on Thursday, to close at AED2.24 a share.