By Abdel Razek Al-Shuwekhi and Mostafa Fahmy In the coming period, Amer Group will be opening three hospitals and a university in 6th of October City, Ain Sokhna and the First Settlement in New Cairo. The group, owned by businessman Mansour Amer, allocated EGP 5bn to increase its investments in the Egyptian market during 2015. Part of these investments will be directed to educational and health projects, Amer said. "In the past period, the group began working in health projects that will be opened soon. A university project in the 6th of October City has been re-opened after a halt during the 25 January Revolution. The project is supposed to be finished before the end of this year," added Amer. During the coming period, Amer Group plans on launching a number of mega projects in the sectors of education, hotels, malls and health centres. This would also include: establishing two schools and a hospital in 6th of October City; as well as two other hospitals in the First Settlement in New Cairo, and Ain Sokhna; in addition to a number of health centres on the shores of the beaches of the tourist resorts owned by the company. The group aims to add the commercial markets and shop spaces. The additional spaces, during the current year, will be from 83,000sqm to 445,000sqm. Amer Group invests in real estate, tourism, restaurant chains, and commercial centres. Among its projects were Porto Sokhna and Porto Marina, in Egypt, and Porto Tartus in Syria, aside from its projects in Jordan and Morocco. According to the group's press releases, the group has no intention to expand more in the Arab countries. The General Assembly has recently approved the split of Amer Group into two companies: Amer Group Holding and Porto Holding. The company is finishing the administrative procedures and it is expected that the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) will approve the division soon. According to Amer Group, the main reason for splitting the group is the desire of shareholders to focus on each and every activity in a clear way. This will help the share achieves its real value in the market. Clear difference between activities will attract new investors for both shares. The new company, under the name of Porto Group, will include all porto's projects. On the other hand, Amer Holding Group will include the following sectors: real estate, hotels, restaurants, services and commercial centres. According to a report released by the group, the group has estimated the value of a share in Amer Holding Group at 20 piasters, while the share of Porto Holding is estimated at 10 piasters. Concerning the division operation, CI Capital, the Commercial International Bank (CIB) investment arm, has been elected as a consultant in the division decision, and Grant Thornton as technical advisor. Amer Group owns a portfolio of land under development with a total area of 5.5m sqm. The group achieved a steady increase in profits during the first nine months of 2014, recording a net profit of EGP 216.96m, compared to EGP 18.63m during the same period last year. Amer Group Holding's capital has been valued at EGP 1.4bn distributed over 4.6bn shares, with nominal value of 30 piasters and a market value of EGP 1.25 per share. Mansour Amer, who participated in the Economic Summit, thinks the government took positive steps to reform the business system through recently issued legislations and the projects it presented in the summit. The Investment law is good first step towards required in the business community but it will not fully reform the system, said Amer. He added that the investment law is a foundation upon which we build and develop according to market needs. It is also a beginning for further understandings and repair of the general business environment and reassuring foreign investors, especially in joint contracts between private and public sectors, he said. Regarding his participation in the projects' package announced by the government, he said Amer Group continuously pumps investments. He participated at the summit to talk about Egypt and communicate to foreign investors that the market is promising and has great ability to attract foreign capital. "The Egyptian market is able to absorb huge investments in real estate and tourism in particular, and there are existing success stories of Egyptian investors to encourage investment," he said.
