{"id":17590,"date":"2025-04-15T20:11:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T18:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=17590"},"modified":"2026-10-24T15:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T13:06:25","slug":"egyptian-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/egyptian-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"Egypt\u2019s Contractors Look Abroad: Strategic Expansion or a Retreat from Home?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Egyptian contracting and construction companies are undergoing notable strategic shifts, reflected in a growing tendency to reduce the volume of their business in the local market in exchange for expansion into foreign markets. On 26 March 2025, Osama Bishai, chief executive of “Orascom Construction”, <\/span>stated <\/span><\/a>that the company aims to reduce the volume of its business in Egypt to only a third of its total activity by 2026, as part of an expansion plan focused on regional and international expansion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bishai explained that the company follows a selective policy in choosing projects inside Egypt, preferring contracts that guarantee financing in foreign currency, even partially, in an attempt to reduce its exposure to the fluctuations of the local market. He pointed to accumulated challenges facing “Orascom” in Egypt, most notably the difficulty of collecting dues from government bodies, despite a noticeable improvement in this respect during the first quarter of 2025, as a result of official efforts to settle financial arrears.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not the first time that Bishai has announced a reduction in local activity: in November 2024 he had explained that 64% of the company’s ongoing business is concentrated in Egypt, against 14% in Arab countries and 22% in the United States, pointing to a plan to cut the local share to 50% by the end of 2025 and raise the share of business in the Arab region to more than 20%.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Orascom Construction” is one of the most prominent entities in the Egyptian contracting sector. Its roots go back to the 1950s, when Onsi Sawiris founded a parent contracting company that was nationalised in 1961, before he re-established “Orascom” in 1976. Today, the Sawiris family, represented by Nassef and Samih, owns about 54.86% of the company’s shares through direct holdings and affiliated entities, at 42.36% and 12.5% respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Orascom’s” business includes carrying out infrastructure projects, industrial and commercial construction, and renewable energy, in addition to its contributions to national projects inside Egypt. The most recent of these projects was carrying out the civil and electrical works at the wind power plant in Ras Ghareb, on the Red Sea coast.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>Recommended reading: <\/b>Fighting corruption in Egypt: how did the strategies turn into ink on paper?<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Contracting and construction companies expand outside Egypt<\/b><\/h1>\n

The Egyptian contracting sector has recently seen an accelerating wave of expansion abroad, amid accumulated economic and financial challenges in the local market. Several construction companies have announced the strengthening of their regional and international presence, led by “Hassan Allam”, which <\/span>revealed<\/span><\/a> its intention to double the volume of its business in the markets of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the Sultanate of Oman, Libya and Iraq, with contracts worth more than $2.5 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the same context, “The Arab Contractors” announced the implementation of two projects to build two bridges in the Libyan cities of Derna and Susa, while “Samcrete Egypt” is preparing to enter the Saudi market for the first time, in parallel with expanding its investments in Africa to two billion dollars. “Concrete Plus” is also planning to carry out five projects in Saudi Arabia with investments approaching two billion riyals, in addition to a commercial project in the Sultanate of Oman worth between $30 million and $40 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

By contrast, while some companies are moving to reduce their business inside Egypt, the local market saw the launch of a new<\/span> alliance<\/span><\/a> led by Al-Organi Group, which includes “Abnaa Sinai” and “Incom”, the latter affiliated with EGE Group, in cooperation with the Chinese giant CSCEC. The alliance aims to carry out infrastructure and contracting projects inside and outside Egypt with an initial business volume of $500 million in the first year, set to reach $5 billion within three years.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Egyptian expansion<\/a> into neighbouring markets, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, saw a remarkable leap during 2024, reflecting a strategic shift in the directions of Egyptian regional investment. In Saudi Arabia, the number of Egyptian companies operating rose from about 500 to more than 4,000, while the invested capital multiplied from SAR 5 billion to SAR 50 billion, according to official data. During the first quarter of the same year, Egyptian companies accounted for about 30% of all new investment licences granted in the Kingdom, which puts them at the top of its Arab economic partners. In the UAE, Egyptian investors made similar progress, ranking third among the nationalities of new non-Emirati companies joining the Dubai Chamber of Commerce during the first half of 2024, with 2,355 new companies, reflecting the widening scope of the Egyptian presence in the major Gulf business centres.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Egyptian<\/figure>\n
\"2,355<\/figure>\n

This growing trend towards going abroad is attributed, according to observers, to a complex economic climate facing the sector inside Egypt. Akram Ismail, a leading member of the Civil Democratic Movement and of the Bread and Freedom Party (under formation), says that most of the projects awarded to Egyptian companies, particularly through the Armed Forces Engineering Authority, are managed according to financing mechanisms that exhaust the companies. He explains that contractors often suffer from delays in the payment of their dues, as their dues are not paid in full immediately upon completion of the project, but are partly folded into the payments of subsequent projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ismail adds that this system creates a state of chronic pressure on companies, as they are forced to carry out new projects in order to collect their old dues, which turns expansion from a strategic choice into an operational necessity for survival, amid a lack of liquidity and growing obligations. This situation is aggravated by fluctuations in the dollar exchange rate, as companies are forced to bear price differences in raw materials without receiving adequate compensation, which threatens financial stability and the quality of implementation in the long term.<\/span><\/p>\n

For his part, Engineer Mohamed Sami Saad, head of the Egyptian Federation for Construction and Building Contractors, <\/span>warned<\/span><\/a> against entering 2024 under heavy burdens similar to those the sector carried in 2023, particularly because of the liquidity crisis and the delay in paying companies’ dues. Saad said that companies able to obtain their dues would be capable of seizing new projects, while companies suffering from a liquidity shortfall face the risk of gradual withdrawal from the market.<\/span><\/p>\n

He pointed to expectations that the volume of contracting business would decline during the current year by up to 20%, attributing this to inflation and rising prices of building materials, in addition to the continued delay by government bodies in paying the dues for awarded contracts. He called on the government to link new tenders to realistic financing commensurate with implementation timetables, warning that companies’ reluctance to take part in projects would undermine the state’s efforts in infrastructure and sustainable development.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Recommended reading: <\/b>Transferring state-owned companies to Egypt’s sovereign fund: privatisation without oversight?<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\nExpansion abroad or withdrawal at home?<\/b><\/h1>\n

In contrast to the voices that link the expansion of Egyptian contracting companies abroad to the deterioration of the local business environment, economic experts believe that this trend may be understood quite differently, as part of strategies of growth and diversification of income sources, and not necessarily as a reflection of a crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mohamed Ramadan, a researcher on economic affairs at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, says that talk of a collective withdrawal or retreat of Egyptian contracting companies from the local market is exaggerated, stressing that the expansion some of these companies are undergoing in regional and international markets is a natural development within the framework of business dynamics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ramadan tells “Zawia3” that this type of expansion is used globally as a tool to achieve a balance between different markets, increase companies’ ability to absorb shocks and generate cash flows from diverse sources. He adds: “So far, there are no clear indicators proving that the local market is suffering an erosion of its activity as a result of this foreign expansion,” pointing out that this view should not be loaded with excessive economic connotations or read as a sign of the deterioration of the construction sector inside Egypt.<\/span><\/p>\n

This argument intersects with the view of Dr Karim El-Omda, professor of political economy, who considers the expansion of contracting companies in foreign markets a natural part of the growth strategies adopted by large entities. He adds that the expansion of foreign activity does not necessarily come at the expense of the local market, but is accompanied by a relative decline in the volume of domestic activity, which is logical in light of the difference in the pace of financing and in levels of demand between home and abroad.<\/span><\/p>\n

El-Omda tells “Zawia3” that regional markets offer more attractive investment opportunities in terms of the speed of procedures and the financing of projects, in addition to high demand for infrastructure in many Arab and African countries. On the other hand, the volume of activity inside Egypt has become directly linked to the policies of the government, which has recently begun reducing its reliance on national projects, in compliance with the conditions of the International Monetary Fund, which encourage reducing the role of the state in the economy in favour of the private sector.<\/span><\/p>\n

El-Omda believes that this orientation towards going abroad is not without a double positive return: on the one hand, it helps companies boost their profitability and increase their chances of remaining in the market, and on the other, it contributes to raising the national product and generating foreign currency revenues that support the national economy. In this way, foreign expansion becomes a supporting tributary rather than a substitute for the local role.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is worth noting that the Egyptian government had earlier officially announced a package of controls to rationalise public spending on national projects, with the aim of confronting the acute shortage of foreign currencies. In this context, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stated that national projects that have not yet started would be postponed, as part of an economic plan aimed at reducing the financial burden and achieving discipline in the state’s general budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

Editorial correction: An earlier version of this report said that Egyptian investors ranked third among the nationalities establishing the most companies in Dubai during the first half of 2024; in fact, the figure of 2,355 companies refers to new Egyptian companies that joined the Dubai Chamber of Commerce as members, not to all companies established in Dubai, according to the Chamber’s statement of 14 August 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid liquidity crises, delayed dues and market volatility, Egypt’s largest contracting companies are moving to scale back their business locally and expand their activity in the Gulf and Africa, amid debate over whether this is a withdrawal or a repositioning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[],"kateb":[728],"class_list":["post-17590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics-en","kateb-shimaa-hamdy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/\u0627\u0644\u0634\u0631\u0643\u0627\u062a-\u0641\u064a-\u0627\u0644\u062e\u0627\u0631\u062c.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17590"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24115,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17590\/revisions\/24115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17590"},{"taxonomy":"kateb","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kateb?post=17590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}