Real Capita, based in Bahrain, and Morocco's Jet Asset Management have formed House Invest, which will spend $400 million on social housing projects in Casablanca, Tangier, Agadir and Marrakesh over four years. According to Salmane Lekhlit, a company official, the company formed on Friday by Gulf Arab and Moroccan investors to oversee the building of 22,000 homes for low-income families in Morocco, may float on the local stock market after two years.
RealMaroc, a fund specializing in social housing that includes leading investors from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, will acquire 90 percent of House Invest's capital, with the rest held by Real Capita and Jet.
"We have enough money to develop the 22,000 units, but we're thinking about an IPO that would bring the project company to the Moroccan stock exchange, give some investors an exit and raise more capital for more projects," said Salmane Lekhlit, managing director of Jet Asset Management. He said that would not happen before two years, by which time the company would have a proven financial track record.
Initiatives to eradicate Morocco's slums, financial sector reforms to lower borrowing rates and incentives for banks to lend to people with irregular incomes have produced heavy demand for low-income housing in the North African kingdom.
Rapid population growth and migration from the countryside to urban centers has led to a shortfall in new housing and the private sector is taking a growing role in plugging the gap.
The country's largest provider of social housing, Addoha, has built or plans to build over 100,000 housing units, according to its Web site. Its shares have soared since it listed on the Casablanca bourse earlier this year.
Source: Reuters.
Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
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