Egypt’s sovereign wealth fund has received an offer from Talaat Moustafa Group to redevelop several government buildings in Downtown Cairo into hotels, adding about 3,000 rooms, a source familiar with the Finance Ministry’s state-asset offering file told Al Manassa.
The government is targeting $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion from redeveloping former ministerial headquarters, the source said, in deals structured as usufruct rights for up to 20 years as Egypt pushes ahead with a wider state-asset sales program under its agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in March that the government had received multiple requests to redevelop the buildings after ministries moved to the New Administrative Capital. Investment Minister Hassan El-Khatib also said there was growing interest from major investors in converting them into hotels.
The source, who asked not to be named, said the government is studying local and Gulf-backed offers to use the buildings, with a view to accepting the most suitable proposal. If current offers fail to meet the government’s expectations, it may relaunch the assets to investors.
A decision on the file hinges on an expected cabinet reshuffle at the end of this month, the source added. That could include changes to ministers in the economic group involved in managing the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, which now owns the ministry buildings slated for offering.
Offering the buildings to local and foreign investors is part of commitments under the IMF program, the source said. Last month, an IMF team reached a staff-level agreement on the fifth and sixth reviews of Egypt’s extended loan program, calling for faster structural reforms, particularly those related to the state’s role and the privatization program.
In late August 2023, the Cairo Criminal Court accepted a petition by Hisham Talaat Moustafa to restore his civil and political rights after he was convicted for incitement to murder Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Moustafa received a presidential pardon and was released before completing his sentence.
In September, Emirati businessman Mohamed Alabbar expressed interest in investing in central Cairo, saying, “I want Downtown Cairo, not only for investment, but because I love this city. It speaks of grandeur.”
MIDAR for Urban Development, which owns the Mostakbal City and Mada projects in eastern Cairo, is also planning to enter a partnership with Hassan Allam Holding and a Saudi investor to implement a major hotel project in the same area, according to a company board official who previously spoke to Al Manassa.
MIDAR is owned by a number of local financial entities, most notably Banque Misr, the National Bank of Egypt, and Misr Capital, Banque Misr’s investment arm, as well as the National Investment Bank.
