As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues, Misr Italia Properties has focused on its delivery process, directing huge amounts of money to speed up project delivery.
Consequently, the company will be delivering five projects in 2020, according to CEO Mohamed Hany El-Assal.
Daily News Egypt sat down with El-Assal to find out further details about the company’s work strategy and expansion plan.
Has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the company’s delivery plan?
The year 2020 started off promising for the company, but since the outbreak of the pandemic in Egypt, there was a slowdown in sales, because of the uncertainty caused. Therefore, we focused on the delivery process, and have directed huge amounts of money to speed up our projects’ delivery, and we are delivering five projects in 2020.
I want to highlight that sales have begun to increase noticeably since June, and in September, the sales movement was pretty much back to its normal rates before the pandemic.
What is the value of achieved sales and expected sales in the last quarter of the current year?
At the beginning of the year, we targeted EGP 4.5bn in sales for 2020, but after the COVID-19 outbreak, we have amended the target sales to EGP 2.5bn. We have achieved EGP 2bn until the third quarter (Q3) of the year, and we are targeting EGP 500m in the last quarter of the year.
How many units will be delivered from Misr Italia’s five projects in December?
We will deliver part of IL Bosco New Capital’s first phase in the New Administrative Capital (NAC). The project spans over 200 feddan, and we will deliver approximately 70 to 80 villas with external finishing. A large portion of the infrastructure and landscaping has already been completed. The company is currently completing the project’s gate area. Over and above this, we are ahead of delivery schedule by one year, and we are on schedule to be the first private developer to deliver a project at the NAC.
Kai Sokhna is situated in Ain Sokhna, and is comprised of 350 units and a 200-key 5-star hotel, that will be managed by Hilton International. Additionally, we have begun construction work on the hotel. For the residential part of the project, we have completed construction works on 150 units, constituting the first phase of the project, and we are currently completing the interior finishing to be delivered this year.
The third project is the 78,000 sqm Cairo Business Park, which is comprised of office buildings. Furthermore, we have handed over around 12 buildings so far, and we are eyeing delivery of a total of 18-20 buildings by the end of this year, out of a total of 42 buildings, representing about 35% of the project’s total project.
Spanning over 40 feddan, La Nuova Vista in New Cairo encompasses 130 villas, of which 80 villas have been delivered and inhabited by its community, and we plan to deliver an additional 20 villas in December.
The fifth project is a commercial project dubbed Garden 8, which covers an area of 23,000 sqm in GLA. A total of 60% of the project has been leased, representing the first phase of the project. The company has launched the soft opening, with the official opening set for December.
Delivering five projects at the same time amid a pandemic may affect financial liquidity of some companies. Did this intensive delivery plan affect your financial liquidity?
We have a plan to avoid any financial gap in our projects, through looking for other sources of funding. For example, we are currently in negotiations with some Egyptian banks to acquire a loan of EGP 450m-EGP 500m to fund the hotel in Kai Sokhna.
What is the value of loans that your company is looking to acquire?
We are undertaking a negotiation process with several banks to fund the company’s expansion plan, namely the commercial part of IL Bosco New Capital and IL Bosco City. The banking loans do not exceed 5% of the company’s portfolio, with other funds coming from various sources such as sales revenues, shareholders, factoring and others.
You do not have a factoring of clients’ cheques facility yet. When will you start the factoring process?
We are still studying the step to undertake factoring of clients’ cheques in the coming period, to reach a total of EGP 1.5bn-EGP 2bn in funds from banks and factoring in 2021.
How much investment do you plan to inject in the Egyptian market?
Our total investments are estimated at EGP 65bn-EGP 68bn for the coming 15 years.
What is the size of the company’s land bank?
The company’s land bank currently stands at 11m sqm, out of which 2.5m-3m sqm lands have been developed, with the rest to be developed within the coming 15 years.
What updates can you share on IL Bosco City in Mostakbal City?
IL Bosco City is situated in Mostakbal City close to the NAC in east Cairo. We have completed its designs with CallisonRTKL, and have already sold the first phase. We now intend to launch and introduce the second phase in last quarter of 2020.
We are about to receive the ministerial decree to develop the project, and the company anticipates beginning construction works in 2021. It is comprised of 6,000 units varying between villas, and serviced and branded apartments or residential units, it also includes a sports club, school and club house with investments worth EGP 22bn.
How many clients does the company have?
We have a client base of 9,000 people.
What offers and products does the company intend to showcase at the Cityscape exhibition?
All developers are waiting for the Cityscape exhibition from year to year, because it is the most important exhibition in Egypt and the region. Additionally to this, the exhibition is extremely popular in the real estate market, having also built up customers’ confidence in it. Accordingly, the company is very enthusiastic to present its best products and offers at Cityscape.
The company offers 0% down payment, with instalments of up to 12 years, as well as the company’s discount on cash at different rates. The company will exhibit a number of projects at the Cityscape exhibition, which are IL Bosco and Vinci in the NAC, and IL Bosco City project, in addition to the company’s other projects.
Vinci project covers an area of 110 feddan, it is built with a special concept reflecting different art eras and includes different types of residential buildings; villas, twin houses, townhouses, in addition to luxurious apartments that each comprises from one to four bedrooms.
