Malta’s wealthiest eye Cyprus golf resort development

It was a pristine piece of land a stone’s throw away from the Cypriot southern coast; an area almost three times the size of Buskett Gardens in Malta. But in recent years, some of Malta’s wealthiest businessmen have teamed up with one of Cyprus’s largest development companies to transform the area into a luxury golf resort: Limassol Greens.

Alec Mizzi, the CEO of Alf Mizzi & Sons Ltd, is leading the Maltese consortium of investors. He’s sitting on the consortium alongside three other businessmen: Mark Gasan, Matthew Portelli and Kevin Valenzia. Gasan is the CEO of Gasan Group in Malta, while Matthew Portelli is a Managing Director at Virtu Holdings. The two businessmen, and Alec Mizzi, worked their way up their respective family companies to executive positions. Meanwhile, Valenzia was a territory senior partner at PwC but now holds non-executive directorships in several Maltese companies.

Meanwhile, the Cypriot side of the development is being led by Lanitis Group, one of the largest development company groups in Cyprus. One of its subsidiaries is the official bottler and distributor of Coca Cola in Cyprus, and another was responsible for developing the Limassol Marina.

Together, the businessmen are developing an area almost three times the size of Buskett into an 18-hole championship golf course and clubhouse, with 500 villas and 250 apartments, as well as retail and commercial facilities.

An artist's impression of the Limassol development

A building permit for the site was obtained by the company in July 2019, and in 2021 construction began on the golf project. Over the years, the company entered into several additional agreements to develop further properties on the site.

Right now, the area is still under construction. The company uploaded a short construction update video on YouTube a couple of weeks ago showing metres and metres of brown fields being dug up and landscaped to pave way for the new development.

The company only recently secured environmental approval for a new residential development within the site. It received approval because it was considered to be a safe distance away from protected areas, and the company provided plans for sustainable water management.

However, there had been some reservations on the project due to ecological concerns. Sources on the island told MaltaToday that the project will be competing with local farmers for the nearby water supply to ensure that the golf course is in use throughout the entire year.

“The area has been earmarked for such a development for the past 10 to 15 years,” one source explained, “but it was only recently that the project actually came into fruition.”

They said Limassol is home to lots of property that is purchased by people looking to get their hands on a Cypriot golden passport. This while Limassol suffers from a housing shortage, with most new developments catering for the rich and wealthy rather than for locals or students.

Right now, the joint company – Lanitis Golf Public Co Limited – is operating at a loss. In 2023 it registered an overall loss of €2.7 million, up from the €1.3 million loss registered in 2022. This company is controlled by MCY Development Limited, which is in turn equally owned by Lanitis Farm Limited and AMOL Enterprises Limited. The latter is split between the Maltese investors.