Egypt signs agreement with LuLu Group to inject $500M in investments

CAIRO – 27 August 2019: The Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade and the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities signed on Aug. 26 an agreement with UAE's Lulu Group to inject $500 million to establish four major hypermarkets in New Cairo, October and El-Obour.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly witnessed the signing ceremony of the agreement in the presence of Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali al-Meselhi, and Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities Assem al-Gazzar.

Meselhi said that it was agreed that the four projects will be built by the Urban Communities Authority within 12 months , with Lulu Group starting to manage and operate the projects in a period of 3 to 6 months from the date of completion of the construction.

He pointed out that the new projects that Lulu Group intends to establish in Egypt come in line with the directives of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to control markets and provide food commodities at discounted prices.

The minister stressed that the establishment of the internal trade infrastructure contributes to controlling prices, making all strategic goods available and reducing circulation.

For his part, Gazzar said that the ministry's approach is based on partnerships with heavyweight entities such as Lulu International Group, adding that coordination is underway with the Ministry of Supply to study the selection of six other sites for the establishment of additional commercial centers in a number of new cities.

"When we started thinking about investing in Egypt, we had a plan to pump only $100 million, but today we invest $500 million to establish a number of malls, hypermarkets and minimarkets, providing 8,000 sustainable jobs," Chairman and Managing Director of Lulu Group Youssef Ali said.

Moreover, Head of Internal Trade Development Agency Ibrahim Ashmawy said in a press conference that LuLu Group targets to establish 20 hypermarkets and supermarkets in the Egyptian market with an investment of $2 billion, providing 15,000 job opportunities.

Ashmawy added that the investment portfolio of LuLu Group reaches around $17 billion; the group is considered a pioneer in retail industry in the Arab market with a share of 34 percent of the wholesale and retail trade in the Gulf region. It is located alongside the Gulf countries in Britain, the United States, India, the Philippines and Malaysia.