Invest-Gate Sheds Light on Investment Incentives to Support Real Estate Funds in Egypt

By Fathy Elsayeh
As part of its strategy, Invest-Gate keeps an eye on the most vital topics in the real estate sector. Thus, Invest-Gate is going to continue its six-year series of roundtables held since its establishment by launching the 18th roundtable.
The newly-announced roundtable is going to be held on Sunday, June 11, 2023, at 9:00 am, at the InterContinental Cairo Semiramis Hotel, under the theme “Real Estate Funds: Unlocking Investment Opportunities,” and in cooperation with the Egyptian Businessmen Association. The roundtable targets highlighting the importance of real estate funds as an effective investment mechanism to support the Egyptian real estate industry.
Real estate investment funds aim to collect finance funds from investors to be allocated to various real estate projects, such as residential projects, administrative offices, commercial centers, hotels, etc. Accordingly, the resulting profits will be distributed among investors at a specific percentage. It is worth highlighting that real estate funds are one of the most significant investment tools used worldwide.
Recently, there have been several calls to institute the culture of real estate investment funds in Egypt. For many years there has been only one real estate investment fund traded on the Egyptian Exchange, named “the Egyptians Real Estate Investment Fund.”
Additionally, in December 2022, Banque Misr, in partnership with Banque du Caire, Misr Insurance Holding Company (MIHC), and Allianz Egypt, launched a new real estate investment fund, named “Misr Real Estate Investment Fund 1.”
The roundtable consists of two main sessions, under the theme “Supporting the Spread of Real Estate Funds.” The two sessions will be moderated by Eng. Fathallah Fawzy, Vice Chairman of the Egyptian Businessmen’s Association & Chairman of the Real Estate Development and Contracting Committee. The roundtable will witness the presence of a group of prominent real estate experts, namely; Eng. Khaled Abbas, Chairman, and Managing Director of the Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD); Mr. Alaa Wally, Advisor to the Chairman Promotion & Business Development; Ms. Sally George, Head of Mutual Funds Department (FRA); Dr. Ahmed Shalaby, President & CEO of Tatweer Misr & Chairman of Egyptian Real Estate Council; Mr. Ahmed Abdullah, Vice Chairman of REDCON Properties, Eng. Abdallah Sallam, President and CEO of Madinet Masr, Mr. Nader Khozam, Chairman & CEO of Il cazar Developments; Mr. Ahmed Elbatrawy; Founder of Egypt MLS; Dr. Hashem El Sayed, Executive Chairman & Co-founder of ODIN Investments & Executive Chairman of Egyptians Real Estate Fund; Eng. Bassel Al Serafy, Global CEO of Adeer International, Managing Director of Paladin Properties UK; Dr. Nour El-Deen El-Serougy, HRE Properties Egypt CEO and Founding Partner; Mr. Hassan Nasr, Gates Developments CEO; Ms. Maha Abdel Razek, Misr Real Estate Assets Management CEO; Mr. Mohamed Galal, TSM Chairman; Mr. Ayman Abdel Hameed, Tameer for Mortgage Finance (Al Oula) Vice Chairman and Managing Director; Ms. Olena Shyrokova, President of the Ukrainian Business Council UAE; Ms. Ana Gazzara, Gazzara Global Group CEO; Mr. Haytham Soliman, HRE Properties UK CEO; Eng. Tarek Bahaa, MENA Real Estate Development Consultancy CEO.
The roundtable aims to present and exchange visions on the main obstacles hindering the establishment of real estate investment funds in Egypt, including the lack of awareness of the importance of this investment tool for the sector, the high costs of establishment, and the lengthy establishment procedures, in addition to the tax environment that needs some amendments. Besides, experts are going to discuss how to provide more incentives to all parties operating in the sector to support the real estate investment funds and reconsider the foundations of taxes for these funds to attract local and foreign investments, as well as the cruciality of attracting foreign real estate investment funds.
Discussions will also include how the state will support the real estate funds, as the Egyptian government adopts some facilitations that would increase these funds to maximize real estate investment opportunities. Thus, the government prepares the final draft of several proposed amendments to the rules regulating real estate funds. Besides, some requests have been presented to the government to speed up tax facilitation and to issue legislation that stimulates investment in real estate funds.
Speaking of the banking sector, the participants are going to deliberate how to exploit the abundance of real estate assets in Egypt to attract banks to support real estate investment funds based on their investment strategy. Additionally, it is noteworthy to highlight that the banking sector’s financing for these funds will resolve liquidity issues for developers.
This roundtable is sponsored by: REDCON Properties, Madinet Masr, HRE Properties, Il cazar Developments, Egypt MLS, Gates Developments, Misr Real Estate Asset Management, AlBaraka Capital, and TSM.
For the Media partners: Aleqaria, Al-Borsa News, Daily News Egypt, Algedaan Real Estate, Elly Banaa Masr program, Aqarmap, Osoul Misr Magazine, Bloom Gate, Property Plus, and Aqar Gate.