Arabtec eyes expansion in Egypt

The UAE's largest contractor by market value Arabtec is targeting five projects in Egypt as it looks to expand in the region amid a real estate slump in its home market.

"We have the strategy to move into these countries if projects become available to us," Arabtec Construction's chief executive Thomas Barry said on Tuesday.

The projects will be in Cairo and outside the Egyptian capital, Barry said, declining to give further details.

Arabtec said on Saturday it had set up a joint venture in Saudi Arabia to tap growth opportunities in the Arab world's largest economy as Dubai's once-booming real estate sector slows.

Over half the residential and commercial property projects due for completion in the emirate between 2009 and 2012 have been put on hold or cancelled, Jones Lang LaSalle said on Monday.

"It became essential for us to do so (expand) because of the market conditions in Dubai so we have to seek other markets," Barry said.

Dubai residential real estate prices have fallen by an average of 25 percent since a peak of September, Morgan Stanley said last month, adding some $263 billion of projects had been cancelled or put on hold in the UAE.

Arabtec has laid off 250 employees of 5,000 working in administration as a result of the financial crisis.

Dubai-based investment bank Shuaa Capital said Arabtec's new joint venture in Saudi Arabia was a "timely relief" for the firm, in a note on Monday.

Arabtec has a backlog of projects worth 39 billion dirhams, including 10 billion dirhams for a tower project in St Petersburg in Russia, which is awaiting final approval by the board of Gazprom. (Reuters)

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