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Ajlan & Bros Holding is looking at Egypt’s tourism sector: The investment firm has reportedly submitted an offer to the Egyptian government to secure a land plot at Sharm El Sheikh’s Ras Gamila, Asharq Business reports, citing an unnamed source it says is familiar with the matter. Cairo24 first broke the news last week that Ajlan & Bros was interested.
The details: If the transaction goes through, the company plans to launch 10 hotels with 3k keys in the first phase of the development at a cost of USD 1.5 bn. The first phase would feature 10 four and five-star hotels, adding 3k rooms to the country’s hotel capacity, Asharq writes.
But that’s not the full ticket: There’s no clarity on how much Ajlan & Bros could pay for the right to develop the site, nor on how much the total project could be worth. UAE wealth fund ADQ agreed in February of this year to pay USD 24 bn to acquire the development rights for Ras El Hekma on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.
AND- Ajlan & Bros has more projects under its radar in Cairo: The group has submitted separate offers for companies included in Egypt’s privatization program, Asharq said, adding talks on those offers should wrap up within the coming six months.
A spokesman for Egypt’s Enterprise Ministry told online outlet Ahram Online that no offers would be considered until an advisor is hired to work on the investment plan for the Red Sea project. We’re taking that with a grain of salt: The Egyptian press has speculated for more than a month now that Ras Gamila is in play.
What’s Ras Gamila? The cape separates a wide, sandy lagoon from the Red Sea generally described as one of the most beautiful dives on Egypt’s globally popular Sharm coast. Ras Gamila is directly across the Strait of Tiran from Neom and not far from the site of a proposed bridge that would link Neom to Sinai.
