Aamal, Germany’s ECE form JV to strengthen Qatar, GCC operations

Aamal Company has formed 51:49 joint venture (JV) with German retail mall and shopping centre operator ECE Projektmanagement as part of efforts to strengthen its operations within the country and in the wider Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.Aamal and ECE already have a long-established track record of collaboration with ECE, acting as manager of Aamal’s flagship City Centre retail mall in West Bay, Doha, for the past 10 years. Under the new joint venture agreement, Aamal and ECE have created a new company, Aamal ECE, which will leverage the parent companies’ combined expertise and capabilities to meet the growing demand for comprehensive property management of shopping centres both in Qatar and potentially across the wider Mena region.The new JV will offer property management together with related consultancy and letting services for the portfolio of shopping centres owned by Aamal and those owned outside the group both in Qatar and the Mena region. The new company will continue to manage City Center mall.“The underlying economic strength of Qatar and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) is continuing to drive the expansion of shopping centre development in both local and regional markets and I’m positive there will be high demand for the services offered by our new partnership,” Aamal Company vice-chairman Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal al-Thani said.Terming that the new JV reflects the success of Aamal’s strategy to build profitable long term partnerships; Aamal Company CEO Tarek M El Sayed said, “We now look to offer the benefit of this expertise to enhance the performance of other retail centres, both within and outside the group.”“We are looking forward to intensifying our co-operation with Aamal by building up the JV and through that to continue the successful partnership in the field of shopping centre management in the future,” according to Joanna Fisher, Managing Director, Center Management of ECE.