An iconic hotel is changing hands in Casablanca. The Mövenpick, owned by Sanlam Morocco and its subsidiary Luxor SA, is coming under Egyptian ownership. The buyer: Pickalbatros, a Cairo hotel giant. Barring a surprise from the Competition Council, the deal is sealed.

Two deals, same city, same buyer, in less than two months.

What’s striking is not so much the transaction itself as its timing. Six weeks earlier, Risma, the leading hotel operator listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, finalized the sale of the Sofitel Tour Blanche to the same buyer for 450 million dirhams. Two deals, same city, same buyer, in less than two months. Pickalbatros is not discovering Casablanca: it is planting its flag there. And it is probably not done yet.

Fifteen years of presence, two years of acceleration

To understand what Pickalbatros is doing in Casablanca today, you have to rewind. The group has been in Morocco since 2010, when it took over the three Royal Mirage hotels in Marrakech, Fez and Agadir, which had been placed in receivership by their Emirati owner Liwa International. 661 rooms in Marrakech, a presence in Fez and Agadir, and already the same method: taking over assets their owners can no longer carry, and getting them back on their feet under its own brand.

In 2012, the group opened the Aqua Fun Club Resort on the Ourika road, Marrakech’s first major water park, an early sign of a strategy that extends beyond hospitality. In 2015, Kamel Abou Aly, the group’s founder, delivered the Menara Mall, the city’s largest shopping center, built from the ground up in 18 months over 5 hectares, for a total investment of 1.5 billion dirhams, financed 96% with the group’s own funds. To this were added the Savoy Le Grand Hotel, an upscale city hotel adjoining the Mall, and the White Beach Resort in Taghazout, a 5-star adults-only resort spread over 8 hectares of oceanfront. A discreet presence, built stone by stone, over more than a decade.

It is from 2024 onwards that the pace accelerates. In the space of a few months, Pickalbatros acquires four other distressed properties. First the Club Sangho Privilège in Marrakech (349 rooms). Then the Palmeraie Resort, a 230-hectare complex including the 5-star Hôtel du Golf and the Palmeraie Palace: nearly 640 rooms in total, an 18-hole golf course, 13 restaurants, and Nikki Beach.

And Palais des Roses in Agadir (410 rooms). Stated renovation budget: an additional 600 million dirhams, injected as equity. In May 2025, Palais des Roses reopens.

Finally, in September 2025, Sungo Club opened in Marrakech with 341 rooms in a rehabilitated historic building, FIFA-standard football pitch included. The group now counts around ten properties in Morocco. Then comes 2026, and the pivot.

Casablanca, a new playground

Sofitel Tour Blanche is no ordinary hotel. Following its grand opening in 2012 in the Sidi Belyout district, in the financial heart of Casablanca, it is a 171-room 5-star property positioned in the business travel segment: corporate clientele, business travelers, and corporate events. Far removed from the all-inclusive resorts of the Red Sea or the leisure clubs of Marrakech. For Pickalbatros, acquiring this type of asset means changing segments: shifting from a resort-leisure positioning to a presence in Casablanca urban luxury.

Mövenpick follows the same pattern. Owned by Sanlam Morocco, an insurance company governed by the Insurance Code whose primary business is not hospitality, through its subsidiary Luxor SA, the property is an asset its owner is visibly seeking to monetize. Pickalbatros sees in it an opportunity to consolidate its presence in the economic capital, in a business district.

And that is not all. In December 2025, the group’s Moroccan subsidiary took a 50% stake in Sindipark SA, the operator of the Sindibad park in Casablanca, alongside Sindibad Beach Resort SA, a subsidiary of the SOMED group. A joint takeover that extends the group’s footprint well beyond hospitality. Pickalbatros is now moving into urban leisure. For the group, Casablanca is a hub, not just a destination.

The man behind the method

Pickalbatros is first and foremost one man. Kamel Abou Aly is its founder, chairman and chief executive, a concentration of roles that is rare in a group of this scale, with an estimated valuation of 5 billion dollars. The CEO is currently ranked 35th by Forbes Middle East among the world’s 100 leading figures in tourism. Born in 1954 in Port Said, having spent fifteen years in Switzerland, he returned to Egypt in 1992 with one fixed idea: to create his own brand. The Beach Albatros Resort in Hurghada, on the Red Sea, was the first stone. Many more would follow.

Its hallmark is to use its own funds to acquire undervalued assets, refurbish them under its own brand, and operate without international franchises or third-party operators. Where Rotana had managed the Palmeraie Resort since 2020, Pickalbatros has taken direct control. This is no passing investor: it has been active in the Kingdom for decades, its representatives attend openings, and it has moved Pickalbatros Maroc’s headquarters to Marrakech’s main avenue.

What this says about the Moroccan market

Pickalbatros’s expansion raises a question as much as it tells a success story. Why is an Egyptian group able to identify, acquire and renovate around ten Moroccan hotel assets over fifteen years, while domestic private capital remains absent from such deals?

The sellers are telling: Risma, which is restructuring its portfolio following Accor’s exit in 2023 and implicitly acknowledges that the Sofitel had been weighing on its profitability; Sanlam Maroc, an insurance company for which hospitality is not a core business; and Palmassets SA, which is divesting from a flagship complex founded thirty years earlier. In each case, there is a seller looking to exit, and ultimately only one serious buyer.

The 2030 World Cup, co-hosted with Spain and Portugal, is creating real pressure on hotel capacity in host cities, including Casablanca. Pickalbatros recognised the opportunity before others did. One major question remains: what will become of the Sofitel Tour Blanche and the Mövenpick under Egyptian ownership?

The group has so far imposed its own brand everywhere. But in Casablanca’s business-travel market, the Accor and Mövenpick names carry real commercial value among an international corporate clientele accustomed to these brands. The choice Abou Aly makes will say much about his long-term ambitions in the country’s economic capital. For now, Pickalbatros is moving forward: discreetly, methodically, and using its own funds. And Casablanca, hotel by hotel, is taking on an Egyptian accent.

Written in French by Safae Hadri, edited in English by Eric Nielson