Barwa Real Estate Company, through its global arm Barwa International, announced an increase in its capital commitment to its partnership with Guidance Financial Group and Kempinski Hotels that is aimed at establishing Shaza Hotels as a leading lifestyle hotel brand in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The capital increase to more than 2.5 times Barwa’s original commitment is aimed at giving the partnership the capacity to develop projects worth $500 million.

Barwa International is working with Shaza Hotels on some of its leading hotel developments including in Dubai, Bahrain, Cairo, Doha,  Marrakech, Muscat and Jeddah. By 2015 Shaza Hotels aims to be operating 35 luxury five star hotels in the Middle East and North Africa. Ghassan Al Binali, chief executive officer of Barwa International said, “Barwa is strongly committed to the expansion of Shaza Hotels and plans to utilise its financial strength and leverage its real estate developments around the world to create true showcase hotel properties for the Shaza brand.”

Michel Novatin, chief executive officer of Shaza Hotels and former COO of Kempinski Hotels said, “Barwa’s strong backing since the early days of Shaza Hotels has provided us with the most solid foundation for building an innovative, world class hotel company that is finely attuned to the new trends of the hospitality market.”