Emaar Properties plans Egypt hotel growth

Dubai's Emaar Properties has planned to invest EGP6 billion to increase the number of hotels in its Marassi project in Egypt to six by 2021. 

Emaar originally planned for the project to have more than 3,000 apartments along with 600 guestrooms and suites. Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties, told local Egyptian newspaper al-Mal that he expects negotiations on the new hotels will be complete within the next two months. This is part of Emaar's plans to to invest EGP 100 billion in Egypt over the next five years, doubling its current investment. 

The news follows Emaar Hospitality Group's plans to sell off some of its assets to focus on hotel management. The Emaar Properties subsidiary expects to have an initial public offering within four years. The company hired Standard Chartered bank to broker the sale with plans to raise $700 million by selling its hotel portfolio, excluding two properties. Emaar also aims to raise another $700 million from selling off clinics and schools within its mixed-use developments. 

Emaar has a portfolio of 50 hotels operating under the Address Hotels and Resorts, Vida Hotels and Resorts and Rove Hotels brands as of April 2018. The group signed two Rove Hotels in the UAE in April 2018. The Rove Manar Mall in Ras Al Khaimah is slated to open in 2020 while the Rove Seyahi hotel and residences in Dubai—its first Rove property in the UAE—is scheduled to open in 2021. 

Alabbar was in talks to lead a $300-billion project to develop a new capital east of Cairo meant to avoid the pollution and overcrowding within the city. However, he was unable to close the deal with the Egyptian government in 2015. Alabbar delayed the project when he pulled out of the deal.