Emirates Stallions Group and Q Holding to develop $87m project in Abu Dhabi

Century Village project will house about 5,000 staff from different industries

The new staff accommodation will be built on Al Reem Island. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

Emirates Stallions Group, a unit of International Holding Company, has formed a joint venture with Abu Dhabi’s Q Holding to develop and manage a staff accommodation project worth Dh320 million ($87.13 million) on Al Reem Island in the UAE capital.

The Century Village joint venture will develop the project to accommodate about 5,000 staff from different industries such as health care, transport and hospitality, ESG said in a filing on Thursday to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares are traded.

The company has appointed GBH International Contracting as the main contractor to construct the project while Royal Development Company has been named as the development management company for the project in the preceding year.

“With the creation of this joint venture we aim to meet the diverse housing needs of professionals in different sectors,” said ESG chief executive Kayed Khorma.

ESG has a diversified portfolio of projects that cover a wide range of sectors including property development, consultancy, design, project management, construction, infrastructure, marine works, landscaping and hospitality management.

The company, whose total assets stand at Dh1.14 billion, reported a net profit of Dh165 million in 2022, compared with Dh69 million in the previous year.

Revenue more than doubled during the period to Dh856.3 million, according to its financial statements. The company has fifteen subsidiaries in five different industries.

The new joint venture “will foster collaboration, convenience and well-being, offering a dynamic and inclusive living environment”, said Q Holding group chief executive Majed Odeh.

Established in 2005, Q Holding operates across sectors such as property, services and hospitality, and has diversified investments through its subsidiaries.

The company, formerly known as Al Qudra Holding, has been expanding its portfolio. Last year it acquired a 100 per cent stake in Reem Investments for Dh5.8 billion.

It is also teaming up with Egypt's Ora Real Estate Development Group to develop a smart and sustainable city in the Ghantoot area of Abu Dhabi.

The mixed-use project will span more than 20 million square metres, with residential, hotel, cultural, commercial, sporting and recreational services, the companies said in March.

Q Holding reported a more than fourfold jump in its 2022 profit to Dh822.6 million on the back of higher revenue.

Abu Dhabi recorded 5,472 property transactions worth Dh27.9 billion in the first quarter of 2023, according to the latest data from the Department of Municipalities and Transport.

The value of the deals more than doubled during the three-month period to the end of March while the volume of transactions, which include property sales and mortgages, rose by 66 per cent.