Majid Al Futtaim has signed a $3.1 billion strategic partnership with Egypt's MIDAR for Investment and Urban Development to deliver a 2.3 square kilometre integrated mixed-use community in New Cairo's Mada City.
June 23, 2026 | Riya Malhotra | UAE | Real Estate
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Majid Al Futtaim has signed a $3.1 billion strategic partnership with MIDAR for Investment and Urban Development to deliver a 2.3 square kilometre integrated mixed-use community in New Cairo's Mada City, marking the Dubai-based group's largest international project to date and its first integrated residential development in Egypt.
The agreement was signed on Sunday at the Egyptian Cabinet headquarters in the New Administrative Capital, under the patronage of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly. Senior officials in attendance included Egyptian Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities Randa El-Menshawy, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Hassan El-Khatib, and UAE Ambassador to Egypt Hamad Obaid Al Zaabi.
The project spans 553 feddans (approximately 2.32 square kilometres) within MIDAR's Mada City master development in New Cairo. It operates on a revenue-sharing model between the two companies, with future MIDAR returns projected at more than EGP 40 billion (approximately $800.5 million).
The development will be delivered in phases.
• Phase 1 covers 200 feddans (approximately 840,000 square metres) over four years and includes approximately 6,000 residential units, a business district, retail and hospitality components, and hotel units.
• Phase 2 will expand the development by an additional 300 feddans.
• A separate 60 feddans (approximately 240,000 square metres) has been allocated for a future integrated shopping and entertainment destination, to be progressively developed based on occupancy rates and construction milestones across the residential communities.
When fully built out, the total project development value is expected to exceed $4 billion.
For Majid Al Futtaim, the project represents a substantive strategic expansion. The company has operated in Egypt for 27 years, with cumulative prior investment of approximately $2.8 billion across 19 provinces. Its existing Egyptian portfolio spans retail and leisure assets, Mall of Egypt, City Centre Almaza, City Centre Alexandria, City Centre Maadi, plus more than 100 Carrefour and Supeco stores, but does not include large-scale integrated residential community development. The MIDAR partnership therefore marks a clear product-category expansion beyond the group's traditional retail and hospitality positioning in the market.
For Ahmed Galal Ismail, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Holding, the deal represents a new chapter in the company's Egyptian operations, characterising it as the company's first integration of regional expertise in developing integrated, mixed-use residential communities within Mada City, with a focus on quality of life and sustainability.
For MIDAR, the partnership reinforces Mada City's positioning as a magnet for regional investment. Ayman Elkousey, Managing Director and CEO of MIDAR, framed the deal as evidence of confidence in the Egyptian real estate market and MIDAR's capacity to attract major regional development partners.
For UAE real estate professionals: developers, brokers, infrastructure consultants, FM operators, and capital allocators, three signals stand out from the Majid Al Futtaim-MIDAR partnership.
• For developers, the move signals that large-scale integrated mixed-use community development is now a viable cross-border product category for tier-one UAE developers. Expect more announcements of this scale to follow.
• For brokers and consultants advising both regional capital and Egyptian opportunities, the formalisation of UAE developer presence in Egypt at this scale opens new client opportunities across capital placement, project monitoring, and operational consultancy.
• For institutional investors and capital allocators, the pattern of UAE developers consistently deploying capital into emerging markets adjacent to their home base now resembles a structural strategic direction rather than opportunistic individual deals. The export of UAE master-developer capability has become a defining feature of the sector's 2026 narrative.
Sources: Majid Al Futtaim and MIDAR for Investment and Urban Development joint announcement, signed Sunday 21 June 2026 at the Egyptian Cabinet headquarters in the New Administrative Capital, under the patronage of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly; Daily News Egypt, Gulf News
