Dubai's Arabtec announced on Sunday a joint venture with Egypt's Amer Group that will help it expand abroad while the emirate's once-booming property sector struggles to recover from the financial crisis.

Arabtec will own 55 percent of the venture, Arabtec Egypt for Construction SAE, which will have authorised capital of 100 million Egyptian pounds ($17.54 million), the companies said in a statement.   

"The company aims to cater to the growing construction demand in Egypt," they said.

Egypt's property sector has weathered the global financial crisis relatively well, thanks largely to strong local demand and the country's insulation from international credit markets.

Amer Group has developments in Cairo and on Egypt's Red Sea and Mediterranean coasts. It also has projects in the early stages in the United Arab Emirates, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

Arabtec announced earlier on Sunday that it had won a $53 million deal to develop Amer Group's "Hanging Gardens" project at Golf Porto Sokhna, a Red Sea resort development.   

Amer is building Golf Porto over 2.2 million square metres in the mountainous Ain el-Sokhna, where it will lay out a mountain-top 18-hole golf course.

Arabtec's shares closed 1.8 percent lower at 2.24 dirhams a share on Sunday, outperforming Dubai's main share index, which fell 2.3 percent.   

In August, the Dubai builder said its net profit for the second-quarter dropped 40 percent. - Reuters