Aldar Properties reaffirms its commitment to Egypt

UAE’s Aldar Properties has reaffirmed its commitment to long-term strategic investment in Egypt after a media report said the property developer will hold off any further investments in the country until conditions there stabilise.

Earlier on Wednesday, Reuters reported that a senior executive had said Aldar will hold off any further investments in Egypt until conditions there stabilise.

“We are not putting any more money into the business until things stabilise further,” a senior executive at Aldar said to Reuters adding that the company remains positive on Egypt in the long term.

Aldar, along with Abu Dhabi fund ADQ, acquired about 85.5 per cent of The Sixth of October for Development and Investment (SODIC) shares in April 2021 for $198m (EGP6.1bn).

The property firm said in a bourse filing that the SODIC deal was, “one the largest foreign direct investments into the Egyptian real estate sector”. Following the acquisition, SODIC achieved EGP21.3bn in development sales in 2022 which represents an 87 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth.

The investment in SODIC was to serve as a platform to expand the company’s real estate portfolio in Egypt.

Aldar said SODIC’s positive performance spilled over into 2023 with EGP3.1bn in sales and reservations in the first quarter of the year. SODIC’s future growth potential continues to be positive with a revenue backlog of almost EGP35bn.