Arabtec wins Dh366 million contract in Egypt from Emaar Misr

Dubai contractor to build a residential project in Greek Village in the North African country

Arabtec Construction won a major contract from Emaar Misr to build a residential project on the north coast of Egypt. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

A unit of Arabtec Holding, the Dubai listed construction company, won a Dh366 million contract from Emaar Misr to build a residential project in Egypt.

Emaar Misr, the Egyptian arm of Dubai’s largest listed property developer, awarded the contract to Arabtec Construction to build 42 town houses, 18 residential buildings and seven bungalows, along with supporting infrastructure and landscaping at Greek Village on the north coast of Egypt.

“We are excited to be working on the Greek Village and building on our relationship with Emaar Misr, which is consistent with our strategy to selectively build a solid pipeline regionally with long-standing and quality clients,” said Peter Pollard, Arabtec Holding’s group chief executive, in a statement to Dubai Financial Market on Tuesday.

The contract work is expected to commence immediately for a duration of 36 months, the statement said.

Arabtec also won a Dh408m contract from Emaar Misr in August to construct two projects in Cairo.

Arabtec is the biggest publicly listed contractor in the UAE, with total assets of more than Dh10.8 billion and net equity of about Dh1.19bn. During the third quarter of the year, Arabtec swung to a loss of more than Dh400m due to a reduction in revenue.

The company declared a loss of Dh437.4m in the three months ending September 30, compared with a Dh67m profit in the same period last year.

Arabtec is in exploratory merger talks with Abu Dhabi construction group Trojan Holding, which is part of the Royal Group conglomerate. The company has hired UBS as a financial adviser to work on a "preliminary evaluation" of a potential deal.