Lulu Group will invest $500 million (Dh1.8 billion) in Egypt to establish a number of hypermarkets and minimarkets to boost its presence in the Arab world’s most populous country, the retail company said on Wednesday.
Currently, Lulu has one hypermarket in the capital Cairo where it employs more than 500 Egyptians.
“When we started thinking about investing in Egypt, we had a plan to pump only $100 m, but today we finalised plans to invest $500m to establish a number of hypermarkets and minimarkets, providing 8,000 sustainable jobs for the Egyptians," Youssef Ali, Lulu group’s chairman and managing director said in a statement.
The Abu Dhabi based retail group is planning to set up 6 hypermarkets and 4 mini markets with other developers from the private sector as part of the agreement it signed with the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade and the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities of Egypt.
Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt and other ministers were present during the signing ceremony.
Under these contracts, 4 projects will be built by the Urban Communities Authority within 12 months, with Lulu group starting to manage and operate the projects in a period of 3 to 6 months from the date of completion of the construction, minister of supply and internal trade Ali al-Meselhi said. The projects will come up in New Cairo, 6th October City and El Obour.
This is as part of the government's plan to attract foreign investments, Mr Al Meselhi added.
Lulu is also in final stages of discussion with the government to enter the wholesale market for vegetables and fruits and to set up a logistics center to support its retail activities in the country.
The retail group currently operates 176 hypermarkets in the Middle East, India and South East Asia, a Lulu spokesperson told The National.
“By the end of 2020 we are planning to open 200 hypermarkets in the regions where we operate,” the spokesperson added.
“Egypt has a huge potential for growth and we are planning to increase our investments in the country.”
Washington based Institute of International Finance recently forecast Egypt’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to grow at 5.5 per cent on the back of reforms undertaken by the government.
