Egypt’s developer SODIC hopes to buy 10% share in Heliopolis Housing

Egypt’s real estate developer SODIC is keen on buying a 10 percent stake in the state-run Heliopolis Housing, its CEO said on Thursday.

Egypt said in June the government wanted to sell the 10 percent stake in Heliopolis via “a limited bidding” before the end of 2019 and turn the management of the company over to the buyer.

“In principle we are interested in the matter, but the offer terms are not clear,” Magued Sherif told Reuters. “We will see whether the offer terms are favourable for us and whether we will gain added value from our presence in this place.”

The buyer would receive a bonus in return for managing the company, with the bonus value to be determined in the contracts, the government said when it announced the sale plan.

SODIC, the third largest real estate developer listed on Egypt’s stock exchange, was founded on 1996, and its projects target upper-middle income homebuyers.

Sherif said SODIC would invest 3.7 billion Egyptian pounds ($228 million) in a residential project called “The Estates” west of Cairo with expected sales of more than 7 billion pounds.

He said the project, to be built on a 630,000 square metre plot, would be “mostly” funded by the company’s own resources.

SODIC plans to offer another real estate project in partnership with the government’s New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) in November.

The project contracts are expected to reach a value of 43 billion pounds, of which NUCA would receives a maximum of 15.3 billion pounds over 11 years, including fixed installments totalling 8.8 billion pounds along with 15 percent of annual proceeds.

SODIC hoped to distribute dividends to shareholders for 2019, Sherif said. The company’s last cash dividend was in May for 2018 earnings and worth 0.50 pounds per share.

Source: Reuters