Emaar Egypt shares fall more than 5% after a lawsuit on the land of "Marassi"

Emaar Misr, a subsidiary of Emaar Properties, fell more than 5% during trading on the Egyptian stock exchange on Wednesday, after a lawsuit against the company over the land of "Marassi".

The company's shares fell about 7% to 3.11 pounds ($ 0.19), but by 10:57 GMT, the share price had reached 3.18 pounds, down 5%. (USD = 16.53 Egyptian pounds).

Lawyer Khaled Abu Bakr told Reuters on Tuesday he had filed a lawsuit on behalf of his client, businessman Wahid Raafat, against Emaar Misr to claim more than 400 acres of land in the North Coast project of Marassi. Legal supported.

Emaar Misr is a subsidiary of Emaar Properties, the largest listed real estate developer in Dubai headed by UAE billionaire Mohammed Alabbar. The Marassi project is located on more than 1,500 acres in the Sidi Abdel Rahman area on the Mediterranean coast.

Ibrahim El-Nemr of Naeem Securities Brokerage said the news of the lawsuit had a negative impact on the company's shares and fell below the resistance level of 3.35 pounds, which could open the way for further declines to the levels of 3.10 and 2.95 pounds.

Emaar Egypt confirmed in a statement to the stock exchange on Tuesday, "the allegation is not true and there is no legal basis to support it .. The land of the Marassi project has been registered a final registration documented with the competent real estate office."

"Emaar has bought the land of Marassi by auction from the state and the price of the land has been paid in full and there is nothing to worry about in this regard."

Investment portfolio
Emaar said in a statement to the exchange that it "will deal with these allegations are false."

Emaar Egypt's investment portfolio in the country is about 53 billion pounds, according to its website.

"We have been pursuing our right for more than 35 years, which has now called us to demand our rights to exit a registered contract of the real estate on July 28 showing the ownership of Dr. Wahid Raafat," lawyer Abu Bakr told Reuters on Tuesday.

He added that the case took the number 481 for 2019 South Cairo Court and will be heard in the second session of September next.

Wahid Raafat, the owner of the lawsuit against Emaar Egypt, is a businessman who has been working in real estate investment for 40 years.

Marassi is one of Emaar's most important projects - along with Uptown Cairo, which is located on an area of ​​4.5 million square meters in Cairo - at an altitude of 200 meters above sea level, and the company has not yet resolved some disputes over it with Al Nasr Housing.

In April, the company donated 878 million pounds to national projects implemented by the Egyptian government, causing a loss of 324.325 million pounds in the second quarter of the year, against a net profit after taxes and a minority rights deduction of 598.497 million pounds a year earlier.