Company: Arab Contractors
Country: Egypt
Sector: Construction
CEO: Not publicly listed
Website: Not publicly listed
Careers Page: Not publicly listed
LinkedIn: Not publicly listed
Email: Not publicly listed
Headquarters: Cairo, Egypt
Founded: 1955
Valuation/Revenue: $1.619bn revenue (African Business Top 250, 2025 ranking, rank 98)
Arab Contractors (officially Arab Contractors — Osman Ahmed Osman & Co., and known in Arabic as El Mokawloon El Arab) is one of Egypt’s oldest and largest construction and contracting conglomerates. Founded in 1955 and nationalized in 1961, it is a state-owned enterprise that has grown far beyond construction into a diversified group with interests spanning banking, insurance, agriculture, food processing, hospitality, healthcare and even professional football.
What Does Arab Contractors Do?
At its core, Arab Contractors is a heavy construction and civil engineering firm, building roads, bridges, housing developments, industrial plants and public infrastructure across Egypt and the wider Arab and African world. Since the late 1970s the group has diversified well beyond contracting, building out business lines in banking and insurance, agriculture and food processing, hotel and tourism services, and healthcare, making it one of the more sprawling state-owned conglomerates in Egypt’s public business sector. Its international operations have historically extended into Libya, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Uganda, Lebanon, Kuwait and Morocco, reflecting decades of regional expansion by Egyptian contractors following the oil-boom-driven construction demand of the 1970s and 1980s.
How Old Is Arab Contractors?
The company was founded in 1955 by prominent Egyptian engineer and businessman Osman Ahmed Osman, making it seven decades old. It was nationalized in 1961 as part of the wave of nationalizations that followed Egypt’s 1952 revolution, and has operated as a state-owned enterprise ever since — one of the relatively few Egyptian construction firms of its era and scale to remain under continuous government ownership.
Who Owns Arab Contractors?
Arab Contractors is an Egyptian state-owned enterprise, part of the country’s public business sector. As a government-owned company, its chairman and senior leadership are appointed by the state rather than elected by private shareholders, and a confirmed, current chairman’s name could not be established with confidence during this research. It is not listed on the Egyptian Exchange and has no publicly traded shares or market capitalization.
Is Arab Contractors Publicly Traded?
No. As a wholly state-owned enterprise, Arab Contractors does not have shares trading on the Egyptian Exchange or any other public market.
What Is Arab Contractors Known for Besides Construction?
Beyond its construction and engineering work, Arab Contractors is widely known in Egypt as the owner of El Mokawloon SC (Al Mokawloon Al Arab), a football club that competes in the Egyptian Premier League — an unusual but longstanding feature of the group’s diversified corporate identity, reflecting how large Egyptian state enterprises have historically sponsored major sports clubs as part of their public profile.
How Big Is Arab Contractors?
African Business magazine’s Top 250 ranking for 2025 placed Arab Contractors 98th among Africa’s largest companies by revenue, with turnover of roughly $1.62 billion, reflecting the scale of its construction and diversified operating businesses across Egypt and the wider region.
How Do I Contact Arab Contractors?
No verified official website URL, careers page, LinkedIn company page or public contact email could be confirmed for Arab Contractors during this research.
What Is Arab Contractors’ Place in Egyptian Infrastructure History?
Arab Contractors is closely associated with some of Egypt’s most significant twentieth-century infrastructure projects, and the company’s history is often cited alongside the country’s broader post-independence industrialisation drive. As one of Egypt’s oldest and largest contracting firms, it has participated in major national construction programmes spanning irrigation and dam-related infrastructure, urban housing developments, and transport projects over multiple decades, cementing its position as a symbol of Egyptian state construction capability distinct from the newer generation of private contractors such as Orascom Construction and Hassan Allam. Today, the group’s diversified investments outside core construction — in banking, insurance, food processing and healthcare — reflect a broader pattern among large Egyptian public-sector enterprises of using an initial industrial mandate as a springboard into much wider commercial activity.
How Large Is Arab Contractors’ Workforce?
As one of Egypt’s largest employers in the construction sector, Arab Contractors has historically maintained a very large workforce spanning engineers, skilled tradespeople and labourers across its domestic and international project sites, reflective of its scale as a full-service contractor active in dozens of simultaneous projects. Precise current headcount figures were not confirmed in this research, but the group’s decades-long role as a training ground for Egyptian civil engineers is frequently cited in coverage of Egypt’s construction sector, with many senior figures at other Egyptian contracting and engineering firms having begun their careers at Arab Contractors.
Links
Website: Not publicly listed
Careers Page: Not found
LinkedIn: Not found
Email: Not publicly listed
FAQ
Is Arab Contractors a real company? Yes, it is a long-established Egyptian state-owned construction and diversified conglomerate founded in 1955.
Who owns Arab Contractors? The Egyptian government; it has been a state-owned enterprise since it was nationalized in 1961.
Is Arab Contractors publicly traded? No, it is wholly state-owned and not listed on any stock exchange.
What does Arab Contractors do? Primarily heavy construction and civil engineering, alongside diversified interests in banking, insurance, agriculture, food processing, hotels and healthcare.
Does Arab Contractors own a football club? Yes, El Mokawloon SC, which plays in the Egyptian Premier League.
How big is Arab Contractors? Roughly $1.62 billion in annual revenue as of the 2025 African Business Top 250 ranking.