Abu Dhabi footprint in Morocco with luxury apartments

The Abu Dhabi overseas developer Al Maabar is set to deliver the first wave of luxury apartments at a US$750 million (Dh2.75 billion) project in Rabat.

About 150 apartments will be handed over within weeks in Bab Al Bahr, a 70-hectare project that is aimed at regenerating the Moroccan capital.

It will be the first of Al Maabar's projects to return income to its investors.

Sitting on the Bou Regreg river, the development is in the middle of the conurbation of Rabat and Sale.

It is 50 per cent funded by Al Maabar, which in turn is owned by six developers: Mubadala Development, a strategic investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government; Aldar Properties; Al Qudra Holding; Sorouh Real Estate; Reem International; and Reem Investments - and 50 per cent by l'Agence pour l'Aménagement de la Vallée du Bouregreg, a Moroccan government agency.

"The first houses will be delivered in the next few weeks," said Jaouad Dadi, the head of sales and marketing at Bouregreg Agency. "We have Gulf buyers. This project had great success in the last Cityscape Abu Dhabi."

The apartments to be delivered are at the top end of a range of 1,700 residences in the project.

When finished in 2015, Bab Al Bahr will house 10,000 people and have 61,000 square metres of office space, 300 stores, two hotels, a guest house, a school, two marinas and a cultural district of up to seven museums.

A tram system has already been built between the town centres of Rabat and Sale.

"It's a city between two cities. It's the link between Rabat and Sale. Its a very strategic project for the capital of Morocco," said Mr Dadi.

A Rotana Palace has been confirmed as one of the hotels, and the project is in the process of leasing out the first set of the 89 stores that will run along the waterfront and marina.

"We are delighted to bring the news of the first apartments being delivered at our Bab Al Bahr development in Morocco," said Yousef Al Nowais, the managing director of Al Maabar. "It is a wonderful way to mark five years since our inception and really shows how our projects are now moving from a vision to an actual reality."

The apartments set to be handed over sell for 6.5 million Moroccan dirhams (Dh2.6m) for three bedrooms and the next set of residences being built will begin at about 1m dirhams.

"Our strategy is to create a destination," said Mr Dadi. "We don't want high buildings because we are between two medinas. We have to maintain the character of the medina in this new destination."

The luxury apartments overlook Rabat's medina, the old part of the city, as well as the Kasbah des Oudayas fort.

"We have some Gulf investors that are buying," said Mr Dadi, adding that they account for about 10 per cent of sales. "They love Morocco and they love Rabat."

Al Maabar was established in 2007 by the six Abu Dhabi companies to develop overseas property projects. The venture also has projects in Jordan and Libya.

"Bab Al Bahr is set to establish a new benchmark of mixed-use developments in Morocco, and it is a prime example of our vision and mission at Al Maabar," said Mr Al Nowais. "Working closely with our partner countries, we look to craft with them developments that take into account the economic, social and cultural needs of the local communities in order to facilitate long-term, sustainable growth and a positive return on investment for all parties."

The Bouregreg Agency was formed in 2005 to improve living conditions in the area by keeping cultural sites, the ecosystem and the atmosphere of the area intact.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”