The State of Monaco has emerged as the unlikely backer of a new drive to brand Morocco as the next big second-home destination for the rich and famous.
Monte Carlo SBM, the resort operator behind some of Monaco’s most glamorous casinos, restaurants and hotels, in which the State of Monaco is the majority shareholder, will manage a £120 million hotel and private residential complex in the Menara district of Marrakech, in its first venture outside Monaco.
The State of Monaco has invited its tax-exile residents to buy winter holiday homes on the estate, touted as “the most luxurious ever to be built in North Africa”. Those understood to have registered an interest in the apartments, which start at £1.8 million and go up to £5.4 million, include Jenson Button, the Formula One motor racing champion, and Bob Diamond, the head of Barclays investment banking division.
Aerium Atlas Management, a division of the Aerium Group, the property investment fund, will develop the 14-hectare Jawhar Estate, framed by the 12th-century Menara Gardens and with views of the Atlas Mountains, where Sir Richard Branson already has a luxury retreat.
The investment in the future of the North African country’s high-end tourism industry has come about partly through close ties between King Mohammed VI of Morocco and Prince Albert II of Monaco. Morocco plans to spend £2 billion on “Plan Azur” to generate investment, property development and tourism. Morocco’s main tourist base has come from France, but the trend for converting riads — old-style Moroccan homes — is popular with Britons seeking a cheaper alternative to France and Spain.
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The tax system for property in Morocco is generous, with no capital gains tax payable after ten years, no rental tax for the first five years and 0 per cent property tax for the first three years. There is also no inheritance tax if a home is left to a family member.