After moving $400 million into gold investments, Egypt’s richest man, Naguib Sawiris, is building a €100 million ($115.7 million) luxury resort on the Greek island of Mykonos. The five-star property is scheduled to open in May 2027.

The project is being developed by Ora Developers, a real estate firm owned by the Egyptian billionaire. It aims to capture a larger slice of the high-end travel market on the Mediterranean island, which draws wealthy visitors from Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East.

The resort will feature 88 rooms and suites, alongside five standalone villas, across 42 acres. Plans for the site include six swimming pools, a 900-square-meter spa and a clubhouse. The property will run under a new luxury hospitality brand that Sawiris plans to expand globally.

Six-year delay ends for luxury resort

Getting the project off the ground took more than six years. Local zoning and spatial-planning rules delayed construction as Greek authorities tried to manage rapid commercial development on the island. Despite the regulatory hurdles, Ora Developers said the project is now entering operational and staffing phases.

This is not the billionaire’s first attempt to break into the competitive Greek hospitality market. Ora Developers opened a smaller 41-room boutique hotel, YI Mykonos, in 2023. However, that property closed at the end of 2024 and has remained dark through the recent summer seasons.

The scale of the new resort shows a shift in appetite for the businessman, whose net worth is pegged at $11 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The hospitality push runs parallel to a long-term strategy of balancing real estate assets with heavy commodity holdings.

Sawiris expands gold mining hedge strategy

The Greek hospitality expansion follows his recent decision to put $400 million into an unnamed mining company where he holds a major stake. His mining interests are managed through La Mancha Resources, a Luxembourg-based vehicle he bought in 2012 for $492 million, which holds positions in Endeavour Mining and Evolution Mining.

The billionaire said in a recent statement that his gold strategy focuses on asset preservation rather than short-term trading. He bought into the mining sector when gold prices were well below current levels, adding to his positions during periods of market volatility as a hedge against global inflation.

Outside of his main mining vehicles, Sawiris is looking for new concessions in emerging markets. Through his majority-owned subsidiary, AKH Gold, he secured exploration contracts for nine blocks in Egypt’s eastern desert and recently obtained licenses in Uzbekistan. He also noted that he plans to look at Sudan once political conditions stabilize.