Arabtec leader takes on task of Egyptian housing

Sami Asad will become chief executive of the new Arabtec Egypt for Real Estate Development, the arm of the company which has been charged with delivering Arabtec's Egyptian projects.

Arabtec Holding has promoted Sami Asad, the head of its construction group, to lead a newly created Egyptian subsidiary as the company prepares to build a million homes in Egypt.

Mr Asad will become the chief executive of the new Arabtec Egypt for Real Estate Development, the arm of the company that has been charged with delivering Arabtec’s Egyptian projects.

Last month, Arabtec secured a US$40 billion deal with the Egyptian government to build affordable housing in 13 locations across the country in what is believed to be the largest housing project in the Arab world.

The company later said it had begun talks with the Egyptian government towards setting up a joint venture to build the homes and to help raise financing from local Egyptian banks to fund construction.

Mr Asad comes to the new job less than a year after joining Arabtec from Abu Dhabi the property developer Aldar, where he served as the chief operations officer, then as chief executive.

“We believe the Egyptian economy, which holds high investment potentials in a broad range of areas, is poised for a significant upturn, particularly with the current governmental policies geared towards encouraging foreign investment,” Mr Asad said.

He will be replaced at Arabtec Construction by Nabil Ailabouni, a former chief executive of the civil engineering company Target Engineering.

Shares of Arabtec rose nearly 2 per cent on the Dubai Financial Market to Dh6.14 per cent. Year-to-date, the share price has gained 114 per cent.