Marakez, a subsidiary of Saudi mall developer Fawaz Alhokair, has fully paid off a 2 billion Egyptian pound ($111.7 million) loan from seven banks, it said on Wednesday.
Marakez was in “advanced stages” of repayment talks with the seven banks and expected to pay off the loan in October, sources near from the talks exclusively told Amwal Al Ghad last September.
The loan pre-payment comes as “a vote of confidence” from its in the Egyptian real estate sector and “a reaffirmation of the strength and stability of the Egyptian economy” backed by the country’s recent economic reforms, Marakez said in a statement.
Alhokair started negotiations to obtain a 1.6 billion pound loan to construct its Egyptian project, Mall of Arabia, one of the largest in Africa. The loan was later restructured and raised in value to 2 billion pounds.
The loan was raised by seven Egyptian banks, including the lead arranger and manager, Commercial International Bank (CIB) along with Banque du Caire, Suez Canal Bank, Egyptian Arab Land Bank, Housing and Development Bank, AlexBank, and Arab Investment Bank.
The Mall of Arabia lies on 441,000 square metres in Sixth of October city 20 kilometres west of Cairo and cost a total 2.92 billion pounds.
