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Egyptian developer Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development (HHD) intends to develop new projects and maximise the revenue potential its land and real estate portfolio as part of a five-year turnaround strategy, the state-owned company’s MD and CEO told Zawya.
HHD is a subsidiary of the Holding Company for Construction and Development, under the aegis of Egypt’s Ministry of Public Business Sector.
Tamer Nasser said the company will develop its own projects and extract more value out of its land and real estate assets located in New Heliopolis City in East Cairo and Heliopark in New Cairo, through development and revenue sharing agreements.
He said 10 major developers from Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have responded to HHD’s proposal to develop 1,695 acres in Heliopark on revenue-sharing basis. The UAE’s Majid Al Futtaim Properties and Al Futtaim Group Real Estate; Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Ali Al Swailem Group; Egypt’s Mountain View, Madinet Nasr Housing and Development (MNHD), Al Marasem Development, Tiba for Real Estate Asset Management (La Vista), Hassan Allam Properties, SODIC and Misr Italia Properties are scheduled to submit their offers by the end of June.
While company plans to appoint a single developer in the third quarter of 2021, Nasser said the selected company would be allowed to partner with sub-developers and required to appoint a reputed firm to develop the master plan.
He also disclosed that 25 percent of the residential part of the masterplan would be developed by HHD from 2025, adding that the entire Heliopark project would be completed in 15 years with the new revenue-share deal expected to generate 100 billion Egyptian pounds ($6.4 billion).
New Heliopolis City
Nasser said Egyptian firm urban planning firm Sites International is working on revamping the master plan of the 5,400-acre New Heliopolis City and will complete it by September 2021. Additionally, the company also plans to complete all ongoing residential projects and facility improvement initiatives in the same month.
The HHD chief pointed out the company is planning to develop 700 acres on its own, adding that intends to start with 400 acres by the first quarter of 2022. Meanwhile, its partnership with SODIC to develop 655 acres on a revenue-sharing basis is already underway.
Tamer Nasser, MD and CEO, Heliopolis Housing
Once New Heliopolis City’s revamped master plan is ready, Nasser said HHD will seek out investors to develop another 500 acres on revenue-sharing basis. The company is in talks with banks to raise 671 million pounds ($43 million) of debt by leveraging existing assets to finance the construction of infrastructure in New Heliopolis City, he said.
In January 2021, the company had sold 270 acres in the project to Behania Sheraton Heights for 2.57 billion pounds ($164 million) with the agreement requiring the buyer to complete and present the project’s master plan in the next 15 months.
Nasser said that the company will focus on extracting value from the assets it already owns, which includes renovation of the historical Granada building in Heliopolis for which proposals would be invited next month, and establishing new restaurants and entertainment areas, and new amenities in Merryland Park to increase rental income.
The HHD chief also confirmed that the company is planning to create new departments for marketing and sales management to compete with the private sector.
(1 US Dollar = 15.64 Egyptian Pounds)
(Reporting by Eman Hamed; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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© ZAWYA 2021
