SIAMA to build $85m polo resort in Morocco

Last Updated: January 12. 2009 8:21PM UAE / January 12. 2009 4:21PM GMT

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Construction will begin this year on a US$85 million (Dh312.2m) polo resort and hotel in Morocco developed by Saudi-based SIAMA, a subsidiary of Azmi Abdelhadi Group in Marrakech. At a time when companies worldwide are being conservative in their investments, particularly in the luxury market, Ammar Abdelhadi, the general manager of SIAMA, said the company could save up to 30 per cent on costs if construction began this year. “This is the perfect time for developers to be working on projects because the cost of building materials has dropped dramatically because of the economic slowdown.”
Scheduled to open in 2011 and spread over 40 hectares, the Jnan Amar Polo Retreat is being promoted as an exclusive polo and spa retreat.“Given the fact that the resort will be open by 2011, we are hoping the hospitality market will have picked up by then and, as they say, when there is a risk there will be returns,” said Mr Abdelhadi.Jnan Amar will have a hotel and villas set around a lake and a polo field.
“Developing a golf course was not something we wanted to do because so many other developers have done that, and we really wanted to target a niche market with this polo resort,” said Mr Abdelhadi.The luxury 60-room hotel will include two presidential suites and 16 private villas, and be managed by the Dubai-based Emaar Hospitality Group under the The Address Hotels + Resorts brand.“This is the first management contract that the The Address Hotels + Resorts has won internationally, and as part of our strategy we are looking to further expand the brand to cities such as London and Shanghai,” said Marc Dardenne, the chief executive of Emaar Hospitality Group.
Given the fact that the hotel brand is only three months old, Mr Dardenne admitted that would be a challenge, but one the group could handle.Several specialist food and beverage amenities are also being planned for the Marrakech property, in addition to a large ballroom and a business lounge. There will also be a range of leisure facilities including a golf driving range, all of which will be managed by Emaar Hospitality Group.
The hotel operator has already opened The Address in Downtown Burj Dubai and later this year is due to open The Address, Dubai Mall and The Address, Dubai Marina.

Morocco's BCP bank buys stake in OCP for $600 mln

RABAT, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Banques Populaires Group (BCP.CS), Morocco's biggest banking group, is to pay 5 billion dirhams ($600 million) for a 5.88 percent stake in the Office Cherifien de Phosphate (OCP), the world's leading phosphate exporter.
The deal is intended to help the state-owned OCP to expand its business during the global economic crisis, which was hitting phosphate prices, officials from the companies said.
"The BCP-OCP partnership gives us a new capacity to implement our strategy," OCP's Chairman Mostefa Terrab told a news conference.
Average phosphate prices jumped from $300 per tonne in 2007 to $1,200 last year, but have fallen about 40 percent so far this month, said Terrab.
The deal would strengthen OCP's borrowing capacity and market visibility as it improves its net debt/equity ratio by 50 percent, he added.
OCP has a 45.5 percent share of the global market for lime phosphate, 49 percent of the phosphoric acid market and 12 percent of fertilisers, according to the company's data.
BCP bank's Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Benchaboun said the deal offered a new window of external growth for the bank.
Under the accord, OCP would also take a 6.6 percent share in BCP for 1 billion dirhams.
Both stakes are in the form of a capital increase and part of a government strategy calling for partnership between state-owned firms to help them grow.
"Listing of OCP on the bourse would take place in the mid-term," said Abdeltif Loudyi, a senior finance ministry official, but he gave no further details.
OCP's stake purchase is the second share deal by BCP bank since Oct. 31, when the bank bought a 50.1 percent stake in Upline Group, Morocco's second-largest independent investment bank.
BCP has Morocco's biggest retail banking network, with about 3 million customers.
"BCP partnership with OCP would underpin its strategy of external growth and expand its operation on the international market and confirm its rank as a major player in retail and investment banking," said Finance Minister Slaheddine Mezouar.
OCP plans to invest more than $3 billion in the 2009-2020 period to modernise facilities, upgrade infrastructure and increase capacity to produce phosphoric acid and fertiliser at its Jorf Lasfar site.
OCP said it also hoped the investment scheme would lure foreign operators who would invest additional money in joint ventures.
Morocco is the third-biggest phosphate producer in the world after China and the U.S., with 28 million tonnes of output a year. It is the largest phosphate exporter, with a 31.6 percent market share.
OCP expects to increase its phosphate output to 45-55 million tonnes by 2020 on the back of its planned investment, the firm said. (Reporting by Lamine Ghanmi, editing by Will Waterman)