S o l i d e r e

Societe Libanaise pour le Developement et Reconstruction de centre ville de Beyrouth


http://www.lebaneselobby.org/picture/beirut/solidere.jpg
www.solidere.com


Solidere, The Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District s.a.l., was incorporated as a Lebanese joint-stock company on May 5, 1994. Its business is the reconstruction and development of the Beirut city center.

Providing a broad range of quality land and real estate development activities and services, Solidere combines the business independence and acumen of a private company with global vision and a sense of public service.

Solidere shares trade on the Beirut Stock Exchange, its GDRs on the London Stock Exchange.


Development Role

As it spearheads the development and reconstruction of Beirut city center, Solidere's role is manifold; land developer, real estate developer, property owner, property and services manager and operator. The Company is establishing a solid base for prosperity in the city center through its value-added activities. In addition to managing its own property portfolio, Solidere is offering Beirut city center property owners the marketing of their properties, followed by their management and maintenance. Solidere is also geared to provide management services for infrastructure, marinas, public utilities, car parks and infrastructure, marinas, public utilities, car parks and landscaped open areas, following their handing over to the public authorities.

_________________________________________________________________________

The Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District, SOLIDERE, is an association of property rights holders and investors, whose contribution make possible the financing and execution of the required infrastructure allowing the project to move forward.
A joint-stock corporation established formally on May 5, 1994 following a statutory meeting of its shareholders, SOLIDERE's share capital is made up of common stock of two types totaling $1.82 billion:

1) TYPE (A) SHARES:

Issued to property owners in the BCD and individuals or corporations with rights therein, against their real estate property contributions. Following initial evaluations by appraisal committees, a Higher Appraisal Committee placed the final figure on all private real estate value in the BCD at US $1.17 billion.

Distribution of (A) shares

The proportionate distribution of type (A) shares to former property rights holders in the BCD takes place through distribution Committees appointed by the State.

2) TYPE (B) SHARES:

Issued to investors against their cash subscriptions in the amount of $650 million.


SUBSCRIPTION AND TRADE

A three-month subscription offer for 6.5 million shares, at par value of US$100, came to a close on January 10, 1994 and although restricted to four categories of investors, the share offering was oversubscribed by 142 percent.


ELIGIBLE SUBSCRIBERS WERE SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING PRIORITIES:

A- Right holders (proprietors, tenants, lease holders) in the BCD,consisting of people of varied nationalities

B- Lebanese nationals and purely Lebanese companies

C- The Lebanese state, Lebanese public institutions and the Beirut Municipality

D- Persons of Lebanese origin, public and semi-public Arab institutions and nationals of Arab countries.


A number of characteristics distinguish SOLIDERE shares from those of other corporations formed under the Lebanese Code of Commerce:

Because of the international scale of the project, it was considered desirable to denominate the shares of the Company in U.S. dollars.

No individual or corporation can own, directly or indirectly, more than 10 percent of the total capital of the Company.

Dividends paid to shareholders are exempt from income tax in the first 10 years following the date of incorporation of the Company. Capital gains arising from the exchange of shares are also exempt. In addition, SOLIDERE is exempt from income tax for a period of 10 years from the date of its incorporation.


SECONDARY MARKET

On June 23, 1994, a secondary market allowing for trade in SOLIDERE shares became operational. This market is under the supervision of the Bank of Lebanon and organized by the Societe Financiere du Liban, an organization comprising 46 Lebanese banks. Brokers representing 32 banks and financial institutions participate in the trading.

This market makes possible trading in SOLIDERE shares and provides other Lebanese companies with the opportunity to offer shares for trade and to enter the market anew.





________________________________________________________________


ANNUEL REPORT 2005


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Oh,thanx libano sooooooo much:)

what's taking so long with reclaiming the land (1st aerial photo)...it's been like that for more than a year...anyone knows?

again it might b on there 2 do list

while i was looking at that reclamed land the other day i saw a render showing devloppment there like High rise etc but BEIL takes alot of room dose anyone know what i mean

Ok, several important points in this report:
- to answer leb-it: the report states that there was a huge dispute between the company in charge of reclaiming the normandy area and solidere, hence the stoppage of the works (the dispute started early on, work came to a complete halt on feb 14th 2005).
Solidere won international arbitrage and canceled the contract, a new company will supervise the works, which will be divided among several contractors to expedite the completion.
- the report gives you the tower heights! and they've been changed: (I am writing from memory now):
- Platinum tower: from 121 to 140 meters
- dib tower: from 90 to 110 meters
- damac: from 75 to 90 meters
-new beirut tower: from 90 to 106 meters
- Landmark tower APPROVED and height set at 160-something meters
-beirut gate tower: 120 meters
- Levant holding towers: 160 meters max height
- plus several towers ranging between 120-150 meters

the report also has a lot of interesting details on urban planning and the new reclamation area project, I suggest you read it in details....

yeah, and one more thing:
the "spaceship" as you guys call it is staying! (the report calls it the beirut contemporary arts center)

yeah, and one more thing:
the "spaceship" as you guys call it is staying! (the report calls it the beirut contemporary arts center)

Part of the Beirut Gate project is being built on the lot that currently has the spaceship (they actually call it the dome or the bubble here in Beirut).

look at the design on P29 of the report, item 8, the project is still there and you can clearly discern the dome.
I know that you got the info on teh cancellation of the project from the article on Bernard Khoury, but the solidere report contradicts it.

look at the design on P29 of the report, item 8, the project is still there and you can clearly discern the dome.
I know that you got the info on teh cancellation of the project from the article on Bernard Khoury, but the solidere report contradicts it.

I see it khayam, but like I said, this lot is part of the Beirut Gate project.

From page 59:

Beirut Gate, an important development
totaling 178,506 sq m of floor area on
lots 987 (site of the City Center Dome),
1523, 1525, 1526, 1542 and 1544
Bachoura and lot 901 Saifi, is under
study. This development consists of
several projects, each on a separate
site and by a different architect, with a
land use mix ranging from residential
to office, retail and cultural activities.

Looking at the renderings, I have discovered that it is this bubble:

http://www.mea707.lrehosting.com/BeirutGate/4.jpg

That bubble is different, so the existing one on the site is going to be demolished completely.

So,the highest tower in beirut will be "The landmark".

while i was looking at that reclamed land the other day i saw a render showing devloppment there like High rise etc but BEIL takes alot of room dose anyone know what i mean


I totally understand what you mean, I was thinking the same thing. I dont see where BIEL fits in to the model shown...

Ok, several important points in this report:
- to answer leb-it: the report states that there was a huge dispute between the company in charge of reclaiming the normandy area and solidere, hence the stoppage of the works (the dispute started early on, work came to a complete halt on feb 14th 2005).
Solidere won international arbitrage and canceled the contract, a new company will supervise the works, which will be divided among several contractors to expedite the completion.
- the report gives you the tower heights! and they've been changed: (I am writing from memory now):
- Platinum tower: from 121 to 140 meters
- dib tower: from 90 to 110 meters
- damac: from 75 to 90 meters
-new beirut tower: from 90 to 106 meters
- Landmark tower APPROVED and height set at 160-something meters
-beirut gate tower: 120 meters
- Levant holding towers: 160 meters max height
- plus several towers ranging between 120-150 meters

the report also has a lot of interesting details on urban planning and the new reclamation area project, I suggest you read it in details....


Thanks for the run-down Khayam, where have you been for so long?

It is exciting news (well to me at least) that the heights have been raised...and yes unfortunately the ugliest tower will be the tallest....

Well,i'm pretty sure,it's not the ugliest.Wait till it's cmoplete ;)

Hey Beirut! sorry for being away for so long,
on BIEL, the report says clearly that BIEL is on a temporary lease, and that the routes leading to it are also temporary, i.e. it will not be a permanent part of the reclamation area... the report has a detailed plan for the project, I counted 2 tall towers (160 meters according to the report) and 5 others (ranging between 90-140)...
the centerpiece of the reclamation area will be the F1 track, which was integrated within the corniche.....

...And I think jean Nouvel's tower is one of the best -not only in lebanon, but in the entire area. However, I know very well that I am in the minority on this.

so there to going to Bull doze BEIL down after bosting its one of the best Halls in the ME !! thats wired

yeah, and one more thing:
the "spaceship" as you guys call it is staying! (the report calls it the beirut contemporary arts center)


what si the spaceship project?

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SOURCE: http://solidere.com/solidere/annual.html

does this annual report have a PDF copy?

how/from where can we get a hard copy of this report ?

The new Quarterly Report is now available.


http://solidere.com/solidere/2006q2.html

^^ Thanks, I cant wait to read it...

Solidere reports 177% net profits in first half of 2006

8/17/2006


A leading Lebanese construction company charged with rebuilding central Beirut said its net profit rose 177 percent in the first half of 2006 compared to the same period last year.

Net profits for Solidere in the first two quarters of 2006 amounted to US$77.8 million (euro 60.8 million), compared to US$28 million (euro 21.8 million) last year, a company statement said.

The first six months of 2005 was a period of political upheaval in Lebanon in the wake of the assassination of Solidere founder and former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Solidere realized a net profit of US$108.5 million (euro88.5 million at the time) for 2005, an increase of 100 percent over 2004.

(AP)

Qatari company pledges $70 million to invest in Solidere

9/4/2006


A Qatari company pledged to invest around $70 million in Solidere, As Safir daily newspaper reported.

“As-Salam Group” informed one of the Lebanese banks with which it deals that it has decided to invest in real-estate projects at the giant real-estate company worth $70 million, the daily said.

The investment comes amid a flurry of other Arab projects to invest in the real-estate sector especially in Downtown Beirut.

The Qatari company includes Qataris and other Arab investors.



Naharnet

Investors predict postwar rebound for Solidere

10/22/2006
The Daily Star

A leading investment bank expressed confidence that the giant real-estate company Solidere will be able to override the negative effects of the war on Lebanon and maintain its steady profits.

In a lengthy report on Solidere, Cairo based EFG-Hermes projected the profits of the company that was founded by late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to rise from $108.5 million in 2005 to $211.6 million in 2006, $212 million in 2007 and $175.2 million in 2008.

Most Lebanese and Arab investors preserved their investments in Beirut Central District despite the 34-day war that left 1,200 dead and caused over $3.6 billion in material damages.

EFG-Hermes said all indications show that the company was not seriously affected by the war.

“We go against the conventional wisdom that Solidere will be greatly harmed by the war,” EFG-Hermes said.

It added that there are several reasons for a positive assessment: a very low probability of a resumption of hostilities due to the high costs incurred on both sides; the likely return of Arab tourists, Solidere’s strong financial position and the management’s indication that sales installments were duly paid during the war. But it warned that the positive outlook is dependent upon domestic political stability.

“Solidere reported FY2005 results that were much in line with our forecasts. Net income grew by 100 percent to $108.5 million on the back of a 32 percent growth in revenue. In the absence of residential and commercial real-estate sales, the land sales volume increased by 34 percent to 219,000 square meters of built-up area, and rental revenue continued its double-digit growth of 12 percent as rental yields increased and residential and retail occupancy levels improved.”

It added that the above-mentioned factors, along with better payment terms, helped the company to settle debts of $104.7 million, or 44.7 percent of outstanding debt as of end-2004. This pushed net debt down to $37.2 million in 2005 from $132.9 million in 2004. Net interest expense thus declined to $2.1 million in 2005 from $17.8 million in 2004, giving another boost to Solidere earnings.

EFG-Hermes also gave an upbeat view of the future of Solidere shares that are traded on Beirut Stock Exchange.

“We instinctively believe that Solidere’s real value lies somewhere between the limited-damage scenario and the pre-war valuation, i.e. between $22.5 and $27.7 per share. For the time being, we will stick to the ‘limited-damage’ valuation in anticipation of positive feedback that we believe management is likely to give. Since our valuation offers 23.2 percent upside potential to the current stock price, we issue a ST Accumulate/LT Buy recommendation for Solidere,” it said.

“It should be borne in mind that the above mentioned factors and investment recommendation are dependent on Lebanon’s domestic political fabric remaining cohesive and a successful implementation of UN resolutions 1701 and 1559.”

Lebanon’s Solidere profit falls more than 80 %

Sunday, 19 November, 2006 @ 2:43 PM


Beirut- Solidere’s central Beirut real estate development may not have been hit directly during the July – August war between Hezbollah and Israel , but confidence level in foreign investments hit Lebanon hard which resulted in the drastic fall in the profit of Solidere.


Solidere which is listed also on The Kuwait stock exchange reported a third-quarter net profit of $4.25 million, a decline of 81.5 percent from a year ago.

Lebanon’s largest listed firm said in a statement posted on the Kuwait bourse Web site that its earnings fell from $23.02 million in the 2005 third quarter. Earnings per share fell to 2.72 US cents from 14.40 cents, it added.

Solidere, which has a near monopoly on real estate development in central Beirut, did not officially explain the decline.

Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group fought a month-long war in July and August, which according to some estimates, caused up to $3.5 billion of infrastructure damage and choked the Lebanese economy. The total damage to the Lebanese economy according to the UN is in excess of $15 billion. Over 1200 Lebanese mostly civilians died during the war and over 5000 were wounded. About 1 millions were displaced and became homeless refuges in their own country.

Solidere’s main area of operation, central Beirut, was untouched by the fierce summer fighting, but real estate transactions were mostly frozen throughout Lebanon then. Solidere shares fell over 25 % as soon as the war started in July.

For the first nine months of 2006, Solidere said its profits were $82.06 million, up nearly 61 percent year-on-year.

‘The third quarter results do not reflect the true situation of sales and profits for the whole year,’ General Manager Mounir Douaidyhe told Reuters in Beirut. ‘So far, it’s an improvement in the results from last year, because of the big number of sales we signed in the beginning of 2006, many of which were recognised in the financial statement in the first six months.’

In Kuwait’s currency, Solidere said it earned 1.24 million dinars ($4.29 million) in the July to September quarter, down from 6.72 million dinars a year ago. Earnings per share were 7.9 fils versus 42.33 fils. There are 1,000 fils per dinar.

Chairman Nasser Chamaa said in April, before the fighting, that Solidere’s brisk property sales would ensure 2006 net profit would dwarf the $108.5 million earned last year.

Founded in 1994 to rebuild the old commercial centre of Beirut ruined in the Lebanese civil war, Solidere was shaken by the assassination in February 2005 of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Al Hariri, who created the firm.

Solidere’s A shares were last quoted at $16.25 and the B shares at $16 on the Beirut stock market. The A and B shares had hit year highs in January of $26.50 and $26.39, respectively.

Picture: Parliament district in down town Beirut, which was rebuilt by Solidere. The war drastically affected the restaurants in the area which are usually filled by tourists from all over the world. The war took place during the peak of tourism season in Lebanon and tourists had to flee the country.

Source: Reuters, Khaleej Times, Ya Libnan

The new Quarterly Report is now available.


http://solidere.com/solidere/pdf/Q3-2006.pdf

^^I was sad reading it. A lot of nice news, but reading it and then seeing the situation in Lebanon right now is quite depressing...

Don't worry guys,we'll get over it soon :)

thanx libano :)

Solidere to set up $136.1b project in Ajman-UAE

MENAFN - 24/01/2007


(MENAFN) The Crown Prince of Ajman announced that the UAE emirate has signed a $136.1 billion ( please see second post) agreement with Beirut-based Solidere Management Services to set up Al-Zorah city project in Ajman, Arab News reported.

The crown prince said that Al-Zorah, which will occupy 10 square kilometers, will be a landmark for Ajman. He added that the project will include building hospitals, schools, offices, shopping centers, residential buildings, golf courses and five-star hotels.

Officials at Ajman Investment and Development Authority said that the project will finish within seven to ten years. Government and private investments will fund the projects, according to officials.

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093140260#top

wow thats huge! any renders??

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

This is gr8 news for solidere,we need a Giant lebanese real-estate company.

WTF 136.1 BILLION!!!??!?!! WOAEHAHE

good!

^^ I think it's 13.6 billions as mentioned in the 2nd post of Libano

They're also looking to invest in Egypt.

Solidere's Quarterly Report (Q4 of 2006) is published. Check it out here (http://solidere.com/solidere/pdf/Q4-2006.pdf).

^^ Nice.. thanks.. they have another name for "The Palladium" project, they call it "Mina two".. I wonder if that third building in the Palladium is what they call now "Stratum"

Cool,thanx nareg. :)

^^ Nice.. thanks.. they have another name for "The Palladium" project, they call it "Mina two".. I wonder if that third building in the Palladium is what they call now "Stratum"

Good point, I noticed that too... I wonder what the official name is and if I should change the thread title?

oh thats why the Grand Hyatt is not geting built yet....is there something up with the land ?

BEIRUT: Lebanese real-estate giant Solidere is planning to invest $6.8 billion in a $13.6 billion real-estate development in the UAE emirate of Ajman, a leading local bank said Friday.

According to a weekly bulletin published by Bank Audi Saradar, the project, to be known as "Downtown Ajman," will be developed in partnership with the Ajman government and will cover 10 square kilometers of the Al-Zoura area of the emirate.

The development comprises a new city consisting of hospitals, offices, shopping centers, residential buildings, five-star hotels and a golf course.

Ajman's crown prince said the development hopes to attract both individual and institutional investors.

The project will be funded through a combination of private equity placement, government investments and pre-sales.

The development is expected to be officially launched within three months and completed in phases over a period of seven to 10 years.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

The bulletin said that a new company with financing of $1.1-$1.4 billion will be established to develop the project.

Solidere was unavailable for comment on the project.

It was not clear if Solidere would raise money for the project from its portfolio in Lebanon or by launching an initial public offering in the UAE to come up with the funds.

A 2006 Cabinet decree authorized Solidere to operate outside Lebanon.

The real-estate firm announced net profits of $82.1 million in the first nine months of 2006, up 60.7 percent from the same period in 2005.

The company reported strong sales and rentals in 2006 despite chronic political insecurity. - The Daily Star

Ajman is gonna look gr8 ;)

let us concentrate on Lebanon :D

^^ I thinking that, they should make more real estate projects in beirut and around the country

$6.8 billion ... hmmmmmm ... they could've done a lot with that in leb.
sad thing is it won't bring in considerable revenue for a while so that money (which we could use NOW) wont come back until later

^^ I thinking that, they should make more real estate projects in beirut and around the country

Solidere is a business with the goals of making money. They will invest wherever they can get a sufficient enough return on investment (ROI).

Nobody in there right mind would invest in major real estate projects in Lebanon right now...

Islamic Investment Bank to Be Established in Beirut
Kuwait-based International Investors Groups (IIG) will launch a Sharia-compliant investment bank in Lebanon in collaboration with Lebanon's Hayek Group, The Lebanon Weekly Monitor reported.
The weekly said IIG unveiled the plan after receiving a preliminary agreement from Lebanon's Central Bank.

Hayek group, in agreement with IIG and Kuwait-based ASAS International Real Estate Developments, will build a tower in downtown Beirut that would house the bank's headquarters, according to the Monitor.

Construction work of the 52-meter high tower, which will span over a total built-up area of 45,000 square meters, will begin at the end of 2007 and will cost an estimated $100 million.

"IIG provides Sharia-compliant financial and investment services, including underwriting, portfolio management and fund management," Audi-Saradar Group's weekly said.

52-meters tower for $100 million :S :S :S :S I don't get it :D

Anyway,Good news,investments still pouring in :)

52 meters will that be the tallest in Beirut?

^^ huuuuuh, lol jayme 52 meters.... the would be like the lowest loool it's METERS not stories

that's y i like jaime soooooooo much :D

U r the BEST,DUUUUUUUUUUUDE :)

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh lol :D

didnt know where else to put it. Good and bad news, construction is slowing down, but at least Beirut Gate is still going as planned according to this article

Political tensions hamper Lebanon’s reconstruction
by Monika Grzesik on Saturday, 03 March 2007 Political tensions in Lebanon continue to slow down construction and are hampering efforts to rebuild the country.

Despite billions of dollars worth of investment being ploughed into the country's real estate sector before the 34-day bombardment by Israel last July, no new contracts have been awarded since the war, and work that was underway has been slow to progress.

"Everything in Lebanon has slowed down. No one is willing to invest in the country until people get the assurance that all political issues have been resolved," said Rasheed Mikati of Arabian Construction Company (ACC), the company behind the US $100 million Platinum Tower in Solidere's Beirut City Centre development.

"Whatever wasn't started before the war is being put on hold, to our knowledge."

The $600 million Beirut Gate being developed by Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH), also in Beirut Central District, remains on track despite months of Hezbollah-led political protests bringing much of Beirut to a standstill.

Michael Lawrence, director of real estate, ADIH said: "With regards to the protestors occupying the land, ADIH has officially requested for Solidere to remove them.

"The demand for land remains strong with several interested parties negotiating with ADIH. The current situation has not led to interested parties withdrawing from the project but it is delaying the completion process of the sales."

Reconstruction efforts could be further hampered by reports this week that the US has slammed sanctions on Jihad al-Binaa, the construction arm of Hezbollah, saying that it is directly funded by Iran.

Under a presidential order, the Treasury froze any US assets held by Jihad al-Binaa, claiming that the company is used by the militant group to attract ‘popular support' through civilian construction services.

Jihad al-Binaa has been at the forefront of reconstruction efforts in Lebanon since the ceasefire in August 2006, mainly in the rebuilding of homes in the south.

According to Wajih Bizri, president of the Lebanese International Chamber of Commerce, the group's efforts are unlikely to be affected by the US's actions.

"What Jihad al-Binaa is doing will eventually give the group's cause more respect," he said.

"But they are definitely doing a good thing and as long as what they're doing is positive to society it shouldn't be stopped."

Since the war ended, the International Union of Architects has been involved in sending ‘emergency architects' to Lebanon to work with local architects and deliver long-term reconstruction aid.

"Very often the big institutions take too much time over things because of their own governance and political issues," said President Gaetew Siew.

"But the people are desperate. Those who can really deliver the goods are those who will be recognised by the local population. Jihad al-Binaa has responded to their needs immediately. You can't rely on the government so you have to rely on people like this, with all the problems it creates.

"In Lebanon, this is exactly how Hezbollah is getting a lot of recognition at the moment."

Solidere reports 22 percent spike in profits despite war
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, April 03, 2007



BEIRUT: The giant real estate company Solidere, which was founded by late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, recorded a net profit of $132.2 million in 2006, an increase of 22 percent compared to 2005. In a brief statement issued to the press, Solidere said that the results would have been much better had the country not suffered the impact of the summer 2006 war with Israel and subsequent political developments.

The largest portion of the profits came from land sales in the first half of 2006, the company said.

"The company still has many contracts that will materialize in the coming three years despite the difficulties the investors and developers are facing as a result of the situation in Beirut Central District," the statement said.

Solidere did not give details on sales and rent transactions in the first half of 2006.

Speculation is rife in some quarters that the sit-in by opposition groups Downtown, which is now in its fifth month, may affect the overall performance of Solidere in 2007.

More than 80 shops and establishments in the commercial district either closed down permanently or moved to other locations temporarily.

"The situation in the BCD may delay the execution of some of the projects on time," the company said.

Solidere said that the financial statements shows that the liquid assets held by the company will allow the firm to continue meeting its financial obligations and to complete various development projects.

Solidere shares dominate the volume of trading on Beirut Stock Exchange. But Kuwait's bourse said on Sunday that it had halted trading in Solidere's shares because the company had not announced its 2006 results.

Solidere is participating in a major real estate project in Ajman, UAE. The company is also implementing a study for the creation of a commercial port in Monaco. - The Daily Star

great great news!!! I hope this continues

It WILL :)

SODIC, Solidere agreement for co - development
SODIC and Solidere announced the signing of a landmark agreement to co-develop two projects on SODIC's land in Sheikh Zayed City on the Cairo Alexandria road and in New Cairo.
Egypt: Saturday, May 05 - 2007

The signing took place on April 26th, 2007.

Solidere is internationally renowned for its successful redevelopment of the war ravaged city centre of Beirut into a thriving modern city centre harmoniously integrating a mix of residential, commercial, office, retail, touristic and entertainment activities. Solidere's insistence on meticulous attention to urban planning, high quality public space, aesthetic and design detail is one of the main success factors and resulted in the creation of a new standard of living and vibrant city centers. The experience gained in the last twelve years has enabled Solidere to develop close relations with a large number of the world's leading architects, planners and real estate consultants resulting in not only an architectural showcase but equally a major commercial success much sought after and achieving some of the highest sales values and lease rates in the Middle East. As a result Solidere is rapidly expanding its international operations with projects in Egypt, the Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and various Mediterranean locations.

The projects that are the subject of this agreement are located in the heart of the primary suburban growth areas of Cairo. The project to the West of Cairo is located on a 1.2 million sqm site in the 6 October/Sheikh Zayed City area on the Alexandria highway, a short distance away from Smart Village business park. The project to the East of Cairo is located on an 858,900 sqm site in the New Cairo/Katameya area, immediately adjacent to the new American University in Cairo campus and a number of important residential communities. The design and planning of both projects are already under way and they will be developed over the next five years with an expected investment cost of over EGP8 billion.

The two suburbs in which the projects are located represent the future of Cairo and are planned to absorb the capital's future growth and alleviate the congestion from which it increasingly suffers. Current trends support our conviction that these suburbs are destined to become self sufficient cities in their own right with populations in excess of 2.5 million persons each in the next 10 years. (To provide a scale reference for the projects it is noteworthy that the island of Zamalek has a total area of 2.7 mn sqm)

SODIC and Solidere jointly recognize the potential for each site to become the 'city center' of the suburb in which it is located. These planned mixed-use urban destinations will each comprise the whole range of activities typical of such a 'city center' including residential units of varying types, office and commercial facilities, retail, entertainment and other support facilities and services. The projects will be developed in strict adherence to Solidere's uncompromising standards of architectural and operational excellence and quality control. They will benefit from Egypt's excellent weather and convivial social traditions which will allow an open air, pedestrian urban setting reminiscent of the golden age of Cairo's urban planning.

Under the terms of the co-development agreement Solidere will be responsible for the master-planning, development and property management of the projects while SODIC will be responsible for financing, construction and general management. Both companies will collaborate on the commercialization of the projects including the development of marketing, sales and leasing strategies.

Maher Maksoud, SODIC's Managing Director, commented
'Our collaboration with Solidere on these important projects stems from our unwavering commitment to changing for the better the future urban landscape of Cairo. Solidere brings to the table unrivalled expertise in developing vibrant, 21st century urban centers. We are delighted to have them as our exclusive partners in East and West Cairo.'


Nasser Chammaa, Solidere Chairman and General Manager commented: 'We have built up considerable expertise, know - how and have developed strategic relationships during our endeavour to rebuild Beirut's city centre. These assets are invaluable and we are tremendously excited at the prospect of using bringing these skills to Cairo and helping to address some of the urban challenges.'

First Quarterly 2007 is now online...is it me or do some projects dont "match"..

http://www.solidere.com/solidere/pdf/Q1-2007.pdf

^^ For some reasons the images are not loading when opening the pdf. Would anyone mind taking screen caps of the important new info/renders and post them here?

Thanks.

^^ Yes,that would be gr8,koz i'm having the same problem here :S

^^ The highlight:

The following progress had
been registered in the 156
Beirut city center developers
projects by the quarter end:
55 projects were completed,
30 were under construction,
29 were going through the
building permit process at
Beirut municipality and 42
were still under design.

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/5511/srjh1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

First Quarterly 2007 is now online...is it me or do some projects dont "match"..

http://www.solidere.com/solidere/pdf/Q1-2007.pdf


What projects are you refering to?

New Annual Report is online now (2006)...good stuff in it! like:

The reclaimed land will be done end of this year.
There are plans for a light rail on the new land going to Martyrs square
The north Souks will be started soon.

Read it check it out!

^^ WOW ,LIGHT RAIL ???????? COOOOOOL :) ok,i'm now at work,on my break i'll check it out .Thanx :)

can someone post the link of the new report plzzz???

^^ u will find it under www.solidere.com in the About Solidere link, then you have to click on the links under Annual Report 2006

thxxx Nadini

برأسمال 700 مليون دولار ومشاريع في الإمارات ومصر

"سوليدير انترناشونال" تنطلق
من مركز دبي المالي العالمي
المستقبل - الثلاثاء 10 تموز 2007 - العدد 2669 - بزنس - صفحة 11



أعلنت شركة سوليدير اللبنانية، التي تعيد بناء وسط بيروت التجاري، أمس عن تأسيس شركة "سوليدير انترناشونال المحدودة" في مركز دبي المالي العالمي.
برأسمال مدفوع يبلغ 700.05 مليون دولار أميركي، وتملك شركة سوليدير نسبة 37.2% من أسهم الشركة البالغ عددها 11 مليون سهم.
وكانت "وسليدير انترناشونال المحدودة" قد طرحت عملية اكتتاب خاصة بقيمة إجمالية قدرها 700 مليون دولار أميركي لإدخال مستثمرين جدد وشركاء استراتيجيين في الشركة.
سيكون موضوع الشركة القيام بالأعمال والنشاطات العقارية في جميع أنحاء العالم مع التركيز خاصة على منطقة الشرق الأوسط وبلدان حوض البحر الأبيض المتوسط وشمال افريقيا.
وستستند شركة "سوليدير انترناشونال" في نشاطاتها إلى الخبرات العالية والمتخصصة في مجالات التطوير والتمويل والإدارة التي اكتسبتها شركة سوليدير من خلال الأعمال الفريدة والمميزة التي قامت بها والإنجازات التي حققتها في السنوات الاثني عشرة الماضية. الأمر الذي جعل منها اسماً عالمياً لامعاً ومميزاً في قطاع التطوير العقاري.
وقد باشرت "سوليدير انترناشونال" بالشراكة مع حكومة إمارة عجمان بمشروع تطوير عمراني كبير في إمارة عجمان ـ الإمارات على أرض تبلغ مساحتها حوالى 12 مليون متر مربع وتقع على بعد 25 دقيقة من مطار دبي الدولي. ويلحظ المخطط التوجيهي للمنطقة الذي أعدته الشركة إنشاء منطقة مختلطة للسكن والأعمال والترفيه والفنادق كما انه يبرز موقعها المميز والممتد على طول شاطئ رملي ابيض وغني بمساحات شجر القرم "المانغروف" وبحر غني بالأسماك والحيوانات البحرية المتنوعة والتي سيجري المحافظة عليهم ودمجهم بالمشروع كمحميات طبيعية.
كما بدأت الشركة بالعمل على مشروعين في محيط مدينة القاهرة في مصر، الأول يقع غرب القاهرة في منطقة الشيخ زايد على مساحة 1.2 مليون متر مربع، والثاني يقع على 850 الف متر مربع شرق القاهرة في منطقة القطامية. ويهدف كل من المشروعين إلى إنشاء منطقة متنوعة الاستعمال توفر عناصر السكن والمكاتب والترفيه والفنادق والشقق المفروشة.
وتقوم الشركة بالإعداد لعقود مشاريع اخرى في مناطق جنوب تركيا والمملكة العربية السعودية وغيرها وقد قطعت خطوات هامة لتوقيع العقود المتعلقة بها، كما ويجري دراسة وتقييم مشاريع تطويرية اخرى في مناطق مختلفة من العالم.

Launching of Solidere International ltd

SOLIDERE announces the establishment of SOLIDERE INTERNATIONAL LTD in Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) with a share capital of US $700.05 million. SOLIDERE’s equity percentage from the 11 millions shares of the new Company is 37.2%. SOLIDERE INTERNATIONAL LTD had completed successfully a private placement to raise US$ 700 million and to bring-in new investors and strategic partners.

SOLIDERE INTERNATIONAL LTD object is to undertake different real estate activities all over the world, with a special focus on the Middle East region, the Mediterranean countries and North Africa.

SOLIDERE INTERNATIONAL LTD shall rely, in all its activities, on the high level of expertise in the fields of development, finance and management, which were acquired by SOLIDERE through its activities and achievements over the last 12 years. This had allowed ‘SOLIDERE’ to become a renowned and distinguished international name in real estate development.

SOLIDERE INTERNATIONAL LTD, in partnership with the Government of Ajman, started a large development project in the Emirate of Ajman (UAE) on a surface area of 12 million sq m, 25 minutes away from Dubai International Airport. The Master Plan of the region stipulates the establishment of an urban land-use mix encompassing residential, office, commercial, entertainment and hotel buildings, in a strategic location distinguished by long white sandy beaches and mangrove plantation, rich with a variety of fish and other marine life, which will be conserved and integrated within the project.

SOLIDERE INTERNATIONAL LTD has also started works on two development projects in the vicinity of Cairo- Egypt, the first located west of Cairo, in the Sheikh Zayed area, and covering 1.2 million sq m, and the second occupying 850,000 sq m of land in the Kattamiyah location, east of Cairo. Both projects aim at creating a mixed-use urban area of residential, office, leisure, hotel and serviced apartment buildings.

SOLIDERE INTERNATIONAL LTD is also preparing for other urban projects in the southern part of Turkey, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries, and is in the process of studying and assessing upcoming development projects in other parts of the world.



© 2007 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

Solidere goes global
July 2007
New company to register on the DIFC

The secrecy in which SolidereSolidere has enshrouded its second life is lifting and the facts are beyond what the company had let on since last November when it first acquired shareholder approval to venture outside of the confines of the Beirut Central District.

It has been known since last year that SolidereSolidere was preparing its "coming out." SolidereSolidere International (SI) will be registered at the Dubai International Financial Center with capital of just over $700 million (representing a share valuation of $770 million). SolidereSolidere will have a 37.2% stake with management control and the ability to consolidate SI results into its books.

Everyone wants a piece of SI
These were the highlights of the ultimate investment plan which SolidereSolidere chairman and CEO Nasser Chammaa put in front of shareholders last month, asking for and getting, authorization to pour $216 million of company cash into the SI capital through a private placement in order to gain the controlling stake that the Lebanese company sought.

Besides the cash contribution, SolidereSolidere also has equity in SI as its sole founding shareholder with 1 million shares. Documents show that this stake was boosted from $50,000, or 5 cents per share, to $70 million, or $70 per share, in valuation since SolidereSolidere assigned to SI its portfolio of international projects (both signed and under negotiations) along with 25-year rights to using the SolidereSolidere brand name outside of Lebanon. This added contribution settles the total valuation of SolidereSolidere's interest in SI at $286.4 million.

The over $485 million in remaining SI capital has been sourced from investors who signed for shares in the private placement, which was lead-managed by Egypt's investment bank, EFG Hermes. During the one-month final promotion and subscription period for the private placement from May 18, demand was high, exceeding the capital sought. "Demand was a little over $950 million for the $700 million," said Karim Awad, executive director at EFG Hermes Investment Bank, told Executive.

Awad said the majority of appetite for the placement came from regional investors and funds from western countries. Besides citing unspecified "significant demand from western institutions," he named Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar as originating countries for subscriptions in the private placement.

While Awad would not divulge names or contribution sizes of SI investors, Qatar's Salam International Group has made no secret of its ambition for a piece of the pie. The group, which among other things has activities in real estate and construction, authorized an SI investment at $6 million. Presumable the biggest single shareholder apart from SolidereSolidere is a major Saudi investor, who early on pitched in $180 million, Chammaa revealed at the shareholder assembly.

According to the information Executive could acquire ahead of the company's big announcement of establishing SI scheduled for June 30, after this issue went to print the new company is seeking to engage in three areas of activity: urban planning; development of land and real estate; and hospitality projects and hotel management.

Many specifics on the three intended fields of business or corporate departments of SI are still confidential but SolidereSolidere already has projects in each of the three areas in its pipeline, giving a hint of its regional and international possibilities. What can be deduced from official SolidereSolidere papers obtained for Executive is that the projects are diverse, complex structures in operational and financial engineering.

The three known projects which SolidereSolidere already discussed earlier in 2007 are the Al-Zorah project in the smallest UAE emirate, Ajman, and the agreement with Egyptian firm Sodic for two urban centers in the Greater Cairo region: Katameya and Sheikh Zayed. When the Ajman project was first announced in January, ambiguous information provision led to reports of a $6.8 billion investment participation by SolidereSolidere in equal partnership with the local government.

Information currently being presented by the designated CEO of SI, Mounib Hammoud, showed that the Al-Zorah project is in fact an equal partnership between the emirate and the private sector with a 50% stake holding by SI and co-investors, of which SI's share will be 25%. The company developing Al-Zorah as Ajman's a new seaside urban core, will be capitalized at $1.1 billion (AED 4 billion), of which 53% will be an in-kind contribution of some 12 million square meters of land by the government.

SI will be handed a 3% stake directly from the emirate as free equity stake and will solicit 25% of the total capital from co-investors at a premium to par, in lieu of arrangement fees. SI's direct capital contribution to the Ajman project company will thus require supplying a 22% stake from cash, for which the company will use proceeds from its private placement ($212 million according to the corporate document,) and fee revenues collected from co-investors. Expected SI revenues from Al-Zorah will include 4% of annual profits, property management fee income, and proceeds from sales or leases of land and real estate with a total internal rate of return projection for SI equity at 32%.

In the Egyptian partnership, SolidereSolidere has entered into agreements with real estate developer Sodic to masterplan, develop and property manage the two Cairo projects. Sodic 6th of October Development & Investment to give it its full name, is a company with partial government ownership and ambitious projects. As remuneration for its troubles in developing two of these projects for Sodic and adding the SolidereSolidere brand name to the marketing mix, SI will be eligible to claim fees of between 7% and 10% on the value-added in land and real estate sales and leases and have options to acquire one plot in each project at a preset (lower) benchmark price. All in all, the package represents $64 million in projected revenues for SI.

Partnerships make up bulk of in-kind contribution
As the Ajman and Sodic partnership agreements were negotiated and signed by SolidereSolidere, they constitute the bulk of the company's in-kind contribution to the capital of SI, assessed by SolidereSolidere as a $70 million value. SolidereSolidere reasoned this as an 85% discount on the valuation for the rights on the two signed projects, with the company's brand name and expertise thrown in moreover as freebies for an irresistible package.

But marketers of irresistible offers always add even more much more, all for the same excellent value. In the SI proposition, this includes memoranda of understanding, a short-listed project bid, and a pipeline of potential projects. Of the MoUs, the most important one is for construction of a resort in the Turkish vacation region of Bodrum, foreseeing an SI equity stake of 50% in a joint venture to own over 250,000 square meters of land and develop residential units and hotels, for which SI planners earmarked an investment of $45 million from the private placement proceeds.

A second MoU is in the hospitality business, where SI plans are to create a unit called Solidere International Hotels and Resorts (SIHAR). This subsidiary would be capitalized with $25 million and it has preliminary understanding with international partners for developing and managing hotels and resorts under the name Nikki Beach, a Florida-born brand with a flavor of Miami Vice and a claim to jet-set luxury. One partner in this venture, aiming to run five to ten hotels in the Mediterranean and Gulf countries, reportedly would be Jihad El Khoury, Marbella-based entrepreneur.

Then there is a bidding partnership between SolidereSolidere and French group Vinci Construction in a tender for land reclamation and development project in Monaco with expected cost of around 2 billion euros. If this consortium wins the project against four other pre-qualified bidders, it would give SI its first attention-commanding project in a European real estate hotspot, even if the SI stake so far undisclosed by SolidereSolidere in the project company would be less than 50%. To round it all off, SolidereSolidere said it has projects in Saudi Arabia in its pipeline and has been exploring opportunities in Oman, Algeria, Morocco, and Croatia.

There can be little doubt that after and perhaps even before SolidereSolidere's management team received shareholder approval to amend the corporate bylaws, the company has rapidly made overtures to high-octane partners in the urban development business and become touchy-feely with a broad circle of important public sector leaders, well-placed construction companies, resort developers and hospitality entrepreneurs.

Take Vinci for example: the French partner in the Monaco landfilling and real estate consortium, has carried out three significant projects in Monaco in the past and has extensive experiences in the Middle East and the Mediterranean with completed projects on the Arab peninsula, although many date back to the third quarter of the 20th century. Vinci's most recent big contract in the region is participation in a consortium for the third line of Cairo's subway, signed this year.

In Awad's view, the SolidereSolidere name has greatly helped the genesis of these relationships. Sodic, for example, brought SolidereSolidere into its project specifically because of its branding power, he said, adding that the creation of the international unit in Dubai also emphasized the company's capabilities while at the same time did not scare off investors wary of the risks associated with the parent company's home base in Lebanon. "The new company will capitalize on the good points, the capabilities and brand name, without the political risk," Awad cheered.

Even without the hardships of the past 12 months that have beset Lebanon and left their mark on the Beirut Central District (BCD), SolidereSolidere's most famous urban project to date, the company's desire for a new life in the larger world is a highly rational move, given that its original mandate for reconstruction of the BCD limited its geographic reach and necessitated a shrinking scope of activities as the area's land bank was finite.

Although private equity investors should be able to reap the potential rewards of SI's growth and exposure outside Lebanon, local shareholders, many of whom have suffered highs and lows since the SolidereSolidere shares were issued in 1996, question how much and when they will be able to benefit financially from the creation of SI. Chammaa sweetened his request that shareholders should authorize committing $216.4 million of capital to the creation of SI, with a dividend announcement of $1 per share for the parent company an amount exceeding the $0.84 earnings per share from net profits stated in the 2006 annual report. The dividend for the very successful 2006 is the largest since the company's listing on the Beirut Stock Exchange and more than 50% higher than last year's payout; some shareholders still called it a bitter pill that management had pushed the payout date to September and did not elaborate on the rewards small share owners can expect from their investment.

Furthermore, the 2006 annual report which provides ample urban design details, architects commissioned for individual projects and revised downtown zoning was less expansive on the benefits SolidereSolidere shareholders could expect for from SI, mentioning the plan only in one paragraph of the introduction and in the concluding words of the chairman's letter to shareholders as promise that external projects will offer new sources of revenue "while avoiding to invest any of your cash abroad."

SI has a great opportunity to develop business but it will have to prove itself in a region where other companies are also seeking to exploit their planning expertise and increase project experience. SolidereSolidere may have demonstrated its abilities and resilience but for years has also had the luxury of being pampered as the only fish in the sea.

Transparency remains an issue
While it has earned high grades for financial engineering in the past three years, SolidereSolidere also has chronic transparency problems both with the public and stakeholders. "The company makes all kinds of land deals without disclosing them and does not at all meet our expectations on transparency," said a Beirut-based financial analyst. SolidereSolidere has also gained a reputation for firing blanks when dealing with the public and its media spokespersons rarely bestow reporters with answers to their relevant questions.

The new venture will encounter more stringent public scrutiny when it expands into highly visible projects in Europe. Well-capitalized real estate companies and hotel management firms in the Middle East are on the rise and this should give SI great performance incentives through competition. But the company may also find good partners and business companions in firms with similar perspectives, for example Jordan's public sector-held Mawared corporation which is a joint owner (with the Saudi Oger group) in Amman's Abdali urban regeneration project and which plans urban planning and consulting activities similar to those of SI through a new entity called Mawared International.

Whatever course SI charts in its first years on the international stage, Awad is sure that the new company has "a great upside potential." Investors in the SI private placement can also be clear about their exit options with a time horizon of two to three years for a likely initial public offering (unless they decide to sell on the secondary market) .

Awad explained the timeline of the IPO and the fact that SI, while not entirely a startup company because of its signed contracts, will need to mature before going public. The DIFX, the bourse associated with the DIFC where SI is incorporated, will be the "logical choice" to list "but nothing would prevent us from listing elsewhere," he said, adding considerations are still far from a point of decision.


© Executive 2007

Solidere activity abroad angers Lebanese shareholders
Original property owners rail against 'suspicious' amendment to firm's corporate bylaws
By Lysandra Ohrstrom
Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 18, 2007




BEIRUT: Solidere original property owners filed a petition against the Lebanese development and construction company for using capital from local operations to fund the regional projects of its recently established international branch. Critical local shareholders railed against what they called the "suspicious" amendment to the firm's corporate by-laws approved last November that allowed Lebanon's largest real-estate company to operate outside the beleaguered Beirut Central District (BCD).

Led by Rya Daouk, the property-owners committee accused officials of the firm created by the late former Premier Rafik Hariri of first "conspiring against Downtown and ejecting its inhabitants" with its controversial reconstruction drive, and "now emptying [BCD] of cash and assets," at a Tuesday morning news conference in the Saint Georges hotel.

Daouk warned of "great consequences" if Solidere International (SI) goes forward with its planned developments in Jordan, Egypt and Turkey - which were negotiated and finalized over the past year by Solidere Lebanon, well before its June 30 expansion was announced - labeling them as "commercial risks."

"If the company carries out certain projects it may be prosecuted, and the court may seize control of Downtown assets," Daouk said.

Attorney Albert Farhat, who is representing the property owners in the suit, said decree 207 violates Lebanese property law and is "unconstitutional."

Solidere Lebanon's purchase of 11 million shares of SI when it registered in the Dubai Financial Center last month, financed 37.2 percent of the international branch's $700 million capital, the notoriously tight-lipped real-estate giant said in a statement released last month after completing a private placement to raise funds.

Solidere declined to comment on the accusations leveled at the company or the value of its stake in the new branch, and referred The Daily Star to the management's earlier statement.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

According to a report in the July issue of Executive Magazine, the total value of Solidere Lebanon's interest in SI is valued at $286.4 million.

SI will focus on real-estate development and urban planning projects in the Middle East region and North Africa, and Mediterranean countries.

A host of SI projects were already in the pipeline in June, including a $1.1 billion, 12-million-square-meter, mixed-use development project in the emirate of Ajman (UAE) in partnership with the government, and two projects on the outskirts of Cairo.

Solidere's local fortunes have fallen precipitously since the assassination of the company's founder in 2005, and took the worst nosedive when the opposition began their sit-in nine months ago.

Managing partner of real estate consulting firm Ramco, Raja Makarem, said BCD has been "crippled" by Lebanon's perennial political instability.

Commercial property in what was once a symbol of the capital's briefly, resurgent Arab-tourism industry used to go for between $800 to $1000 per square meter when the neighborhood was "packed," he said.

"Now they are not collecting rent from tenants and people want compensation. We can-not even say prices in Solidere are going down, because no

one wants to go there now," Makarem told The Daily Star in an interview on Tuesday.

For some of the disgruntled former Downtown landowners-cum-reluctant Solidere shareholders, the corporation's current troubles in the local market may just be poetic justice.

"Solidere has ejected 135,000 people from Downtown, and turned the area into an empty space that plays no role in bringing together the two sides of the capital," said former head of the Lebanese Order of Engineers and Architects Issam Salam.

^^ Wow this is some bad news...as trouble is on the horizon.

"Solidere has ejected 135,000 people from Downtown, and turned the area into an empty space that plays no role in bringing together the two sides of the capital," said former head of the Lebanese Order of Engineers and Architects Issam Salam.


I still think that Solidere has potential in the BCD to really unite the country (just remember June 2006!)...people are just bitter now because of the situation - and we all know who is to blame for that!

I mean seriously, the BCD was a total dump before Solidere so I dont understand how these people can complain so much. Everything takes time we need to just wait until the master plan is complete.

I agree Beirut! in the 70's the area was very rundown. These people are remebering in its hey day...Look at your local city..How much has it changed in the past 25 years?

If Solidere was never formed it probably would have taken decades to make the BCD viable (not to mention the propertied were all tangled in property disputes and absent owners)..In addition the state would have had to do all the infrastructure (we know that would have taken years as they had/have no money).

At any rate these owners would have kicked out the squatters themselves and probably would not have "restored" there buildings but knock them dwn anyway. Its easier and cheaper to build new then to fix.

This area was coming back as a meeting point...as more residential and office space comes online..it will come back..but now we have tents that need a big wind storm to fly them away lol

http://solidere.com/solidere/pdf/Q2-2007.pdf

^^ Can someone please post screen caps of this report? For some reason I am again having difficulty viewing the pictures (I can only see text).

^^ here you go

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/4408/sr1ka8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/7622/sr2yl0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The Marina Garden is almost 7 floors now (middle pic)

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/9471/sr5ql7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6375/sr6fp9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/2766/sr8dx7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

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http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/7362/sr12iv5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Solidere: 'Vigilantism under color of law'
Downtown rights holders take issue with company's checkered past, 'illegal' expansion abroad
By Lysandra Ohrstrom
Daily Star staff
Monday, August 06, 2007



BEIRUT: Since Solidere was incorporated on the Lebanese Stock Exchange in 1994 the public purpose company conceived to reconstruct battered downtown Beirut after the Civil War has managed to shrug off countless bribery and corruption charges, Lebanon's deteriorating investment climate, and profit from the abundant petrodollars flooding the region, all the while taking the shape of a commercial company and moving farther from its narrow, local mandate.

On May 29, a committee of 500-dogged, disenfranchised former downtown property owners filed a suit at the Majlis al-Shura against a two-month old ministerial decree approving Solidere's decision to create an international branch in Dubai. The case is the latest in a long line of lawsuits against Solidere over the past 12 years that raises questions about the company's dubious legal foundations and its checkered past. Solidere's operations range from the "immoral to the unconstitutional," according to its most vocal critics, and all were perpetrated under the cover of the Lebanese state in the name of "national interest."

Like its predecessors, the current case may never receive a ruling, but the Downtown Rights Holders Committee is optimistic that with the government led by staunch-Solidere ally Premier Fouad Siniora in danger of collapse, and the possibility of a power sharing agreement increasingly imminent, they may be able to hem in Solidere's "unlawful expansion" - 37 percent of which was financed with local capital - so company profits are used to complete outstanding rehabilitation commitments in BCD, and not to finance speculative ventures in countries outside the state's control.

"We don't like this move because [Solidere] is still supposed to be a public purpose company whose main mission is development, whose mission is to serve downtown property owners by finishing project quickly and distributing [dividends] to us so we can buy back our property in downtown. We don't want Solidere to go do other projects when they are barely 25 percent done in Lebanon." explained Constantine Karam, who filed the petition on behalf of the rights holders committee.

"Solidere was established by the government through CDR [the Council for Development and Reconstruction] and is regulated by two public statute laws but has taken the shape of a commercial company. It has been supported by the government and given about $1 billion in exemptions, and half of the area of Solidere is municipal property. The bottom line, without any argument, this move to go outside of Lebanon contradicts the law regulating the company, as simple as that," he concluded.


II. The Foundation of Solidere

Lawyer Mohammad Mugraby, who continues to represent about 50 original downtown rights holders in suits filed against Solidere in the early 1990's that have yet to go to trial, said three elements convinced Parliament to pass Law 117 in 1991, which created a real-estate company radically different from the speculative holding and development company that Solidere is today.

"When [Law 117] was passed by the Parliament it was marketed in a way that gave the [MPs] at that time the strong impression that this company to be formed under the law would be strictly an arm of the government, and that the government had no ability to fund the rehabilitation which at that time was estimated to cost roughly $400 million," Mugraby said from the office of his private practice in Hamra.

"There was assurance given by Dr. Baij Tabara, who was appointed council for CDR and appeared in front of Parliament in that capacity, that the company to be formed under the proposed law would not own property, but just reorganize it."

Law 117 amended legislative decree number five, which created CDR in 1977, adding a sixth paragraph which is still in Solidere's statutes, giving CDR the mandate of executing - either directly or through other entities including a real-estate company, formed or to be formed under article 21 of the civil organization law - any project that the council of ministers delegates to the CDR.

Though Mugraby argues that Law 117 is unconstitutional because it violates article 15 of the Lebanese Constitution that guarantees the protection of private property under the law, it nevertheless defines Solidere as an agent of CDR whose purpose is confined to the reorganization and rehabilitation of the old town of Beirut.

The co-founder of the Downtown Rights Holders committee, Nayla Bustros, believes former Premier Rafik Hariri had been trying to take control of downtown Beirut's reconstruction since 1987, and had gone as far as approaching President Amin Gemayel and appointing contractors, but could not go forward without amending the existing legislation.

"He prepared the plan in 1987 but once he realized it wasn't working and he couldn't get a law to do so, he decided to become prime minister," Bustros explained in the living room of her sprawling Ottoman-era villa in Tabaris.

Law 117 was a radical departure from the existing legislation - based on the 1962 Urban Planning Law, and the twice-amended CDR law - which permitted the government to manage and finance an area's reconstruction through a real-estate company, jointly owned by the state and property rights holders, under the authority of CDR. Since the government was to be main financing party according to the earlier legislation, it was permitted to extract 25 percent of the rehabilitated area after the project's completion.

"Mostly Hariri did not want the government to have anything to do with the company, and he didn't like that the activities of the company is under prior supervision of the government, so he decided to give it a new form," said Karam.

"Parliament accepted the argument that the state doesn't have enough funds so let the private sector enter, and accepted Hariri's argument that it shouldn't be subjected to day-to-day supervision by CDR so it took the shape of a commercial company."

The company created by law 117 would finance the reconstruction independently, was not required to cede 25 percent of the surface area to the state or appoint public sector representatives to its board of directors, meaning the state effectively relinquished its property rights in BCD and its authority over the rebuilding.

But the government was still required to reimburse the company for infrastructure work - such as sewage systems - under the new law, so Solidere received the lucrative rights to the 600,000 square meter Normandy Landfill in lieu of compensation.

The property is expected to yield Solidere an estimated $3 billion to $5 billion in profits once the rehabilitation is complete, according to former property owner Costa Doumani.

While Solidere is regulated by commercial law, it has assumed the all the prerogatives of a state agency in its operations. Solidere took property rights from between 100,000 to 150,000 tenants and landowners in exchange for shares in the company, based on a clause in the urban planning law allowing the government to confiscate land for public benefit in an area damaged by military activities, and manage the reconstruction through a real-estate company. But after the completion of the rehabilitation the former occupants were guaranteed either the right to return to their property or the company's profits were to be distributed as just compensation.

Law 117 was passed under former Premier Rachid Karami, who fell from power in less than a year and was replaced by Hariri, Solidere's largest single shareholder with stock valued at $150 million.

"Solidere was registered, organized, and launched under Mr. Hariri as prime minister," said Mugraby.

"In my opinion Solidere is a Lebanese form of vigilantism under color of the law. It violates the Constitution, which prohibits the confiscation of property without prompt compensation and only for the public good. Most of the people who were hurt were not strictly the property owners but the occupants or lease holders, whose rights were taken away by law 117 and given to Solidere," he said.

Solidere created the mechanism of compensation through shares, and the Hariri-lead government appointed two separate special extra-judicial committees to make property appraisals and distribute an equivalent value of stock options to owners and tenants in downtown.

A former public official said the state became totally subservient to Hariri's business and political interests during his premiership, and his family maintains its tight grip today.

"You have Hariri the prime minister doing business with Hariri the businessman, and he has Parliament in his pocket, which is not very difficult, so you have a huge ability to twist the arms of public officials," he said on condition of anonymity.

"There have been thousands of pages written about him, but nobody hears, he's still a saint, a prophet, a benefactor of humanity. Whenever I talk about him my blood pressure rises."


II. Social Repercussions of Solidere's Reconstruction:

The former head of the Order of Engineers and Architects, Issam Salam, drafted an alternative strategy to reconstruct downtown Beirut, restore its pre-war function as a bridge between the capital's Christian and Muslim communities, and reconcile a city that emerged from 15-years of civil war divided along sectarian lines.

By ignoring the two most important elements of an urban plan aimed at national reconciliation - namely the preserving the "common memory of the city" and "a tie to the past," and encouraging former occupants to return to the locations they abandoned - Solidere concretized the division of the city, Salam argues. http://www.dailystar.com.lb

Solidere "demolished 85 percent of the city's memory considering buildings to be too badly damaged to be worth preserving, and denied property owners and tenants their right to return to where they were operating from before," he said.
"The approach was a totally speculative one geared toward maximizing the return on investments and not oriented for the people of Beirut themselves. The heart of the city is vacant and the [capital] divided into a Christian and Muslim community. Disregarding the approach of integration leads to actions that are highly unconstitutional and a bit immoral."

Solidere - whose general manager declined to be interviewed for this story - has never revealed the number of downtown "rights holders" who accepted Solidere stock options after the government compelled them to contribute 50 percent of initial capital by ceding property rights to a company whose operations they had no control over. According to most estimates between 100,000 to 150,000 rights holders originally held 50 percent of Solidere's shares, while private investors made 20,000 individual cash contributions and controlled the remaining stock, said Karam. About eight percent of owners and tenants, including Bustros, refused stock options, and still maintain the deeds to their property. A few are hoping, against all odds, that a new government might come to power and amend law 117 so they can reclaim their rights to downtown. In 1997, following the committee's relentless campaign, Solidere extracted five percent of property deemed salvageable from company capital, and the original owners were given the opportunity to recuperate independently.

But the extent of Solidere's original corporate structure - financed 50 percent by in-kind property contributions and with cash from private investors, according to Karam - that remains in tact is unknown, as is the volume of original rights holders who still hold stock.

Karam estimates that about half of the 92 percent of rights holders that received shares have sold them, and Bustros thinks the number may be even higher.

"Everyone I know has sold them," she said.

The identity of the private investors and board members controlling the company, and by extension downtown Beirut, is also unknown.

The Haddad family accepted Solidere stock options in exchange for their land - which was valued at $800 per one square meter of built up area in 1992, and now fetches between $15,000 to $20,000 - and has yet to recoup even the nominal value of the property that was confiscated.

Not only was the initial value of the stock options received by owners and tenants in BCD not commensurate with the value of the property, but between 1994 and 2005 Solidere stock plummeted on the market, prompting many original shareholders to sell.

"There were people who had heart attacks, got depression; they were rich and all of the sudden they lost everything in one day. They didn't have money to go to the doctor. So they had to sell what Solidere gave them, to eat," said Mrs. Haddad, who did not want her first name to appear in print.

Meanwhile, Solidere has distributed dividends only twice since it was listed on the BSE in 1994, most recently on August 15 last year. Shareholders were encouraged by their bankers to sign documents allowing company board members to vote on their behalf at the extraordinary meeting in November when Solidere's by-laws were amended to allow it to forge ahead with its regional expansion.

"I went to the bank to collect cash and they handed us a [power of attorney] document to sign so they could invest profits in projects abroad last year, but we refused, collected dividends and left," Haddad recalled. "They threatened some people and told them if they don't sign they won't give them dividend payments."


III. The Founding of the "Hariri Fan Club"

According to five of the Solidere opponents interviewed by The Daily Star, the company has a long history of using the banks as intermediaries for its operations, beginning when bankers were recruited to market company shares to the general public during the initial subscription period.

As incentives for the bankers to pitch Solidere stock to their clients, the company offered commissions of seven percent, said Karam, winning the sector's support from the outset.

"During the capital subscription phase, Hariri urged his friends in politics, deputies and MPs to go and subscribe to the shares," he recounted.

"Politicians would say 'we don't have a lot of money now', so he said I will get my [two banks] to give you lines of credit at lowest interest rates, for say $1 million, to go and buy shares of Solidere and I guarantee you will make money. After two months the subscription was closed and Solidere was listed on the market. The shares rocketed from $150 to $170 per share [within the first month] and stayed there for two weeks ... dropped to $150 and $130. We discovered it was these politicians who sold ... it was a way to bribe the politicians in a legal way, so everyone made $500,000 in four or five months."

"This was not a secret matter actually, because at the time it was talk of town to go and buy Solidere shares, at one point president Elias Hrawi went and bought them," recalled Bustros.

Doumani concurred that at least two banks participated in the insider trading scheme by alerting the judges and politicians when to sell, so members of the "Hariri Fan Club" pocketed between $100,000 to millions of dollars, depending on their rank.

This was one of three main "premiums" Solidere's founder and largest single shareholder used to consolidate the company's financial footing and the subservience of Lebanon's political class during his tenure as prime minister, charged Doumani.

CDR indirectly bribed judges to appraise confiscated property at one seventh its original value by paying them between $1,000 to $4,000 per property evaluation, said Doumani. CDR sued Solidere in 1999 for failing to compensate the state agency for bribery payments made to the judiciary on its behalf.

Solidere also engineered a "political premium" to ensure the Shiite community's support for reconstruction, Doumani said. The cost of repatriating the 4,000, predominately Shiite, refugees squatting in the abandoned, bullet-scarred building in the city center was estimated at between $50 to $60 million, but Solidere paid Amal $250 million for the party to distribute as it saw fit, Doumani said.

Insider trading "is just one example of how [Solidere] controlled the different levels in of the community ... and one of many corruption cycles in Lebanon," said Doumani.


IV. Will International Expansion be the move that brings Solidere down?

Given Lebanon's gloomy commercial prospects, Solidere's sound financial footing and ascendant international reputation, and the propensity of Gulf states to funnel oil revenues into high-profile real-estate development projects, Solidere's international expansion is a commercially savvy move, one that will surely profit the downtown property owners who retain stock.

The various arguments leveled against Solidere by the Downtown Rights Holders Committee range from rational to emotional.

[B]"Our only aim is that by change of government sooner or later will accept an amendment to law and give property back to people who kept their property deeds, and downtown will start to work again," Bustros said hopefully.
"The company is owned by financial investors who don't care what happens to downtown so they accepted Solidere's argument that the company will make more money in the emirates," she added.

Doumani estimates that between 60 to 70 percent of Solidere stock is controlled by financial investors, meaning the 30 percent of shareholders whose properties were bought at one seventh of the price are bearing an additional risk of $90 million.

"Not only have you diluted their shares, not only has their investment never yielded any real value, but you are now forcing the remaining rights owners to assume an additional risk without controlling anything. Their rights have been diluted seven times compared to the financial investors who got premiums when buying shares at a discounted price. You have an international company doing operations I don't know where in the Cayman Islands, using its sister company's assets in Lebanon as a cushion and they are not transparent," Doumani said.

The $259 million Solidere invested in its international company could have been reinvested in the company's outstanding commitments in BCD, said Doumani, such as two or three underground parking lots that have yet to be constructed.

"The problem with going international is that Solidere was conceived and made to redevelop the center of Beirut, and is supposed to look after the people of Beirut and the 130,000 shareholders," Salam said. "Solidere's last statement says we are private company, we have a right to operate as a private company, no one has any control over us. At the moment [Solidere] is lured into the idea that this is a profitable business for them, but if they go operate in Dubai, Turkey, Qatar or someplace else this exposes Solidere to risk from land speculation which may lead to profit and may lead to loss. After taking an action for Lebanese interest, the government has no right to expose these people to this."

i found this on a website:

scroll down to 3/4 of the page, to the article "beirut, open city"

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/faculty/sarkis/images/studios/beirut5.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/faculty/sarkis/studios.html&h=218&w=220&sz=32&hl=en&start=29&tbnid=Td7jzkyOilFrzM:&tbnh=106&tbnw=107&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbeirut%2Btram%26start%3D20%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

check the (original?) design for the solidere extention.

Solidere's Q3 - 2007 has been published. It focuses on the Reclamation Area.

To see the report, click here (http://www.solidere.workwebsite.net/solidere/pdf/Q3-2007.pdf).

^Thanks! I've been browsing the solidere site nearly everyday but i stoped last week, and here they publish the repport:nuts:

Me 2 i stopped last week LOL

Beirut Stock Exchange: Solidere shares skyrocketed

Saturday, 1 December, 2007 @ 8:14 PM


Beirut, Lebanon - Shares of Solidere surged Friday. Solidere "A" shares closed at $ 22.00 and "B" shares at $ 21.95. "A" shares went up an incredible 11.11% and "B" shares went up 10.52%


It was a great day for banks too:

Banque Audi GDR shares was up 5.38% to close at $ 77.35
BLOM bank GDR was up 4.26% to close at $ 92.90
Byblos Bank "listed shares" was up 8.33% to close at $ 2.21

HOLCIM Liban a cement manufacturing company was up too. Its shares closed at $ 19.92 up almost 1 %

Market Capitalization for the shares traded on the exchange was $10.52 billion.

The Lebanese Pound ( Lira) was unchanged at USD/LBP :1507.5
Volume of trade today 705,642 shares and Value $ 11,559,440

One trader with a big smile on his face told Ya Libnan ."The market can now see the light at the end of the dark tunnel. This is all about the selection of Suleiman as the next president. The market after one year of sit-in by Hezbollah was craving for some good news."

Even though the market recovered some of its losses the share prices remain undervalued when compared to the period that preceded the Summer war between Hezbollah and Israel

Source: BSE, Ya Libnan

http://solidere.com/solidere/pdf/Q4-2007.pdf

New Quarterly- great project updates

Lebanon's Solidere & Ajman, UAE plan $60 bln project

http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2008/05/01/ajman%20%2C%20uae%20map.jpg

Published: Thursday, 1 May, 2008 @ 9:22 PM in Beirut (GMT+2)

Beirut / Ajman - Lebanese developer Solidere International Ltd (SOLA.BY: Quote, Profile, Research) (SOLB.BY: Quote, Profile, Research) and the UAE emirate of Ajman have agreed jointly to develop a 220 billion dirham ($59.91 billion) project on the emirate's coastline.

The Al Zorah development will span 12 square kilometres, Ajman said in a statement on Thursday. The project, when completed, will aim to house 200,000 residents and workers.

The initial phase will take 30 months to complete and the entire project will be completed in 15 years, a spokesman for the venture said.

Lebanon's Solidere, the country's largest company by market value, set up a Dubai affiliate last year to help it expand abroad. The developer also has a strong presence in Saudi Arabia.

Solidere , a publicly held company was founded by Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri , who was assassinated in 2005 in downtown Beirut.

Family-ruled Ajman is one of seven emirates in the UAE federation. In a bid to catch up with its neighbours, Ajman, the second-smallest member of the UAE by population, is preparing new freehold laws and regulations similar to those in Dubai. The emirate has a population of about 300,000, out of the country's 4.5 million people.

Dubai is building islands in the shape of palm fronds and the world map, and is also home to a ski slope in the desert.

^^Wouldn't it be better if SOLIDERE invested inother parts of Lebanon instead of investing in countries that don't need it?

^^and then the March 8 puppets will say they r taking over Lebanon,and this shit.U know what i mean,Solidere can't get enough of Beirut now they want to take over the whole country,sadly how some "Lebanese" act :(

Lebanon's Solidere sees steady earnings in 2008
Fri May 2, 2008 1:34pm EDT

BEIRUT, May 2 (Reuters) - Profits at Lebanon's largest company Solidere for this year should remain near 2007 levels of $22 million, although political instability remains a threat, the company's general manager said on Friday.

"The profits are likely to match last year's levels. The political situation remains tense but no ongoing project in central Beirut has been cancelled," Mounir Doueidi told the Arab Economic Forum, a business gathering, in the Lebanese capital.

The real estate company (SOLA.BY: Quote, Profile, Research) (SOLB.BY: Quote, Profile, Research), which owns most of the property in downtown Beirut, reflects the state of the Lebanese economy, which is officially forecast to grow at 4 percent this year, similar to 2007.

Doueidi said the Souks shopping mall, a high-profile 100,000 sq metre project in the city centre being built by Solidere, will be completed in 2009. Solidere's assets are worth some $8 billion, with 50 projects being developed by private investors who had bought land from Solidere, he added.

"This is a conservative valuation which will rise if the political situation improves," said Doueidi, referring to a protracted power struggle between the pro-American government and the Hezbollah-led opposition. Iran and Syria back the Shi'ite movement.

Former premier Rafik al-Hariri founded Solidere in 1994 to rebuild downtown Beirut after the 1975-1990 civil war and gave it a monopoly over most of the 1.8 sq km (20 million square feet) that form the centre.

Hariri, who was killed in 2005 by a car bomb metres from Solidere's boundary, was the largest shareholder in the controversial company. His political opponents accused Solidere of razing historic buildings that could have been saved to make more money.

OUTSIDE EXPANSION

Doueidi said Solidere had sold 2 million sq metres of built-up area (BUA) since its foundation, comprising half of the BUA it controls. He said Solidere will step up expansion abroad through Solidere International, of which it owns 37 percent.

Solidere International on Thursday announced a joint venture with one of the seven regions comprising the UAE to develop a 12 sq km project. Doueidi said the infrastructure costs will be covered from pre-sales and Solidere will not need to seek huge financing for the $60 billion project.

"This is a project over 15 years and plots will be sold to private investors to develop themselves. I do not see a huge bond issue," Doueidi said.

The company is also planning a project on the edges of Cairo and will bid for a project in Monaco, Doueidi said.

A market source said the overseas expansion could help Solidere eventually offset diminishing sales in its home market and raise its weak profits-to-assets ratio.

"They have not sold much at all in Lebanon this year," the source said. "This could be to their advantage if there is a political turnaround and prices in central Beirut spike." (Editing by David Holmes)

Where is the 2007 Annual Report?? Has it been published already but just not posted on the website? what is the reason for the delay?

When was the 2006 Annual Report published?

^^ Early months of 2007.

I notice once they talk about profits etc. They come out shortly with the update....Should be anytime now

New Quarterly 2008:
http://www.solidere.com/solidere/pdf/Q1-2008.pdf

^^ok,i can't read it,Can anyone tell what's new about this one???

I couldnt open it at first...but windows verified the file and then it opened..I dont know why. It talks about the souks..nice pictures etc

^^ Not much new info though, but I liked the pics of the Hariri Memorial.

Solidere shares surge after Lebanon crisis eased

Published: Friday, 16 May, 2008 @ 2:57 PM in Beirut (GMT+2)

Beirut - Shares in Lebanese real estate market heavyweight Solidere surged 12 percent on Friday, a day after the country's worst political crisis since the 1975-90 civil war eased.

By 10 am Beirut time , the firm's A shares had risen 12.17 percent to $28.49 and its B shares were up 12.04 percent to $28.01 percent. The market index rose 5.59 percent.

On Thursday, an Arab League mediation mission sealed an agreement that ended fighting between ruling coalition supporters and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.

"The market has been influenced by yesterday's deal and the high expectations that the Lebanese were looking for. Therefore the increase in the market strictly related to the political situation," Firas Hassan, financial analyst at Arab Finance Corporation, told Reuters.

"For the time being, the market has potential to rise even higher, especially if there's a positive solution in Qatar," he said, referring to talks to resolve Lebanon's wider political crisis, which will be held in the Gulf state.

Solidere, the country's largest company by market value, recently said it had agreed to jointly develop a $60 billion project on the UAE emirate of Ajman's coastline.

Earlier this month, Solidere's general manager said profits were likely to match last year's levels of $130 million.

Former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, who was assassinated three years ago, founded Solidere in 1994 to rebuild downtown Beirut after the 1975-1990 civil war.

Solidere shares skyrocket after Lebanon deal reached


Published: Wednesday, 21 May, 2008 @ 3:47 PM in Beirut (GMT+2)

Beirut - Shares in Lebanese real estate giant Solidere surged today and set new records hours after the deal to end Lebanon's worst political crisis since the 1975-90 civil war was announced in Doha Qatar

Solidere A shares rose 14.32 percent to $31.05 and its B shares were up 15.00 percent to $31.05

The Tuesday closing price was $27.16for A shares and $27.00 for B shares

During the early hours of Wednesday , at around 3: 00 am a deal was reached in Doha after 5 days of intensive negotiations to end the political impasse , an Arab League committee headed by the Prime Minister of Qatar sealed the agreement that all the Lebanese have been waiting for , for the past 18 months

According to analysts , this is just the beginning for Beirut Stock Exchange ...all the shares listed on the exchange are bound to go up


Solidere, the country's largest company by market value, reported last week that it had agreed to jointly develop a $60 billion project on the UAE emirate of Ajman's coastline.

Earlier this month, Solidere's general manager said profits were likely to match last year's levels of $130 million.

Former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, who was assassinated three years ago, founded Solidere in 1994 to rebuild downtown Beirut after the 1975-1990 civil war.

Other shares fared extremely well too

Bank Audi listed shares were up 5.38 % to close at $96.95
Bank Audi GDR shares were up 9.99% % to close at $ 101.80
Byblos Bank listed shares were up 9.96% to close at $2.76
Byblos Bank Priority shares were up 9.33% to close at $2.81
BLOM Bank GDR shares were up 7.76% to close at $ 106.20

"The deal to end crises could result in the best tourist season ever for Lebanon this summer and this is precisely what the market sees" Fouad Haddad a market analyst told Ya Libnan.

Signs of Good times ahead as Solidere shares surge again


Published: Thursday, 22 May, 2008 @ 3:47 PM in Beirut (GMT+2)

Beirut - Shares in Lebanese real estate giant Solidere surged again today as signs of good times ahead for Lebanon were evident everywhere following the deal in Qatar that ended Lebanon's worst political crisis since the 1975-90 civil war.

Solidere shares yesterday went up 15 % and today again they surged almost 15 percent too

Solidere A shares rose 14.97% percent to $35.70 and its B shares were up 14.97% percent to $35.70

The Wednesday closing price was $31.05 for A shares and $31.05 for B share.

Solidere, the country's largest company by market value, reported last week that it had agreed to jointly develop a $60 billion project on the UAE emirate of Ajman's coastline.

Former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, who was assassinated three years ago, founded Solidere in 1994 to rebuild downtown Beirut after the 1975-1990 civil war.

Other shares didn't fare as well , because of the profit taking that followed yesterday's surge, but many were up too

Bank Audi listed shares were up 1.08% to close at $98.00
Bank Audi GDR shares were a fraction down and closed at $ 101.60
Byblos Bank listed shares were up 8.69% to close at $3 even
Byblos Bank Priority shares were up 6.76% to close at $3 even also
BLOM Bank GDR shares were a fraction down and closed at $ 106 even

The market is projecting that the end of the political crises could could be the beginning of a great summer tourist season.

Annual report will be available after the 15th ..

profits of $155.9 million

Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 05, 2008


BEIRUT: Real-estate giant Solidere announced Wednesday that it made a net profit of $155.9 million in 2007, up by 18 percent compared to 2006. In a statement to the press, it added that the consolidated financial statements show a consolidated net income figure of $224.2 million, which includes the company's share in the profits of its affiliates - especially Solidere International Limited (SI), which is incorporated in the Dubai Financial Center.

"It would have been possible for the company to achieve even better results, had it not been for the unusual situation that Lebanon has been going through," the statement said.

It added that this remarkable performance was the fruit of the firm's management and efforts on two levels: first the execution of a number of contracts signed in previous years and the signing of new land-sales contracts, and second its efforts to launch its expansion program through SI. Solidere holds a 37.19 percent share of SI's capital.

"Solidere's recognized revenues from land sales in 2007 amounted to $288.5 million, resulting from the sale of 224.5 thousand square meters of properties, most of which resulted from contracts signed in previous years," the statement said.


It added that Solidere still holds a backlog of unrecognized sales contracts worth approximately $914 million which are expected to be recognized in the coming few years.

"It is worthwhile to note that, despite the difficult situation in the Beirut Central District area, the company was able to maintain the same level of revenues from its rented properties, amounting to $20.8 million in 2007," the company said.

The statement said that Solidere's liquidity increased at the end of 2007 to $323 million ($337 million in its consolidated financial statements) against $101 million for 2006.

"On the other hand, the financial statements show a significant decrease in the long-term-debt figure to around $7 million, knowing that the company relied on short-term facilities that reached $181 million, and which are expected to be fully repaid before the end of 2008," it said. - The Daily Star

http://solidere.com/solidere/annual.html

New Annual 2007 report posted

http://www.solidere.com/solidere/pdf/Q2-2008.pdf

2 Quarter report

The third quarterly report of 2008 has been released

http://www.solidere.com/solidere/2008q3.html

Lebanon's Solidere first-half net profit up 37 pct

H1 net profit rises to $83 million

Reuters

* Expects full year to surpass last year's $156 million

* A shares up 2.2 percent, B shares up 2.8 percent

BEIRUT, Nov 27 - Solidere <SOLA.BY> <SOLB.BY>, Lebanon's largest company by market value, posted a 37 percent rise in net profit to $83 million for the first half of the year, the company said on Thursday.

The real estate group reiterated in a statement it expected its full-year profit to surpass last year's $156 million.

"The profits for the first half of 2008 come as a result of achieving sales ... of land contracts signed previously in addition to new contracts that have been signed since the beginning of 2008 -- overall worth $310 million," the statement said.

This included a recent contract worth $170 million for land in downtown Beirut, said Solidere, which was founded in 1994 by late former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri to rebuild central Beirut after the 1975-1990 civil war.

On Wednesday Solidere International, part owned by Solidere, said it was pleased with progress at a $60 billion city it is building in the United Arab Emirates.

Solidere International said infrastructure works of Al Zorah which commenced in September were on schedule. Imad Dana, chief executive of Al Zorah Development Co, had said last week construction could be slowed, giving another sign that the global economic crisis is hitting Middle East construction plans.

Solidere, whose shares recently fell to their lowest this year, helped nudge Lebanon's BLOM index <.BLSI> up 0.8 percent.

Its A shares closed up 2.2 percent at $16.95 and its B shares <SOLB.BY> ended 2.8 percent higher at $17.00.

Solidere said its prospects were underpinned by its strong six-month profits, an expectation that they will rise in coming periods, an increase in liquidity and its lack of bank loans, among other factors.

"All these elements protect against the dangers and difficulties that many companies in the region are facing in the shadow of the global financial crisis," the company said.

2008 4th quarter out http://www.solidere.com/solidere/2008q4.html

Solidere seeks fortune abroad


17 March 2009

Gulf property developers will be able to withstand the worst effects of the global credit crunch by banding together to manage both supply and financing, says Nasser Chammaa, chief executive of Solidere International, the Lebanese developer.

As the global crisis hits Dubai hard, the property market in the Gulf's financial centre is showing signs of a sharp correction after a seven-year boom, and many construction projects are under review.

"There will be an impact on demand and many projects will be postponed," says Mr Chammaa, head of the Lebanese property development company that rebuilt Beirut from the rubble of the civil war and is now managing developments in the emirate of Ajman, in Saudi Arabia and in Egypt.

"But four or five big operators control about 85 per cent of the market in the Gulf and there is huge government presence in these companies, so I think they will come together and work jointly to ensure that the impact of this crisis is not as big as it could have been without collaboration," he told the Financial Times.

Solidere the Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District is a real estate giant at home, having been founded in 1991 by Rafiq Hariri to rebuild Lebanon after the civil war. The company thrived under Mr Hariri thanks to his excellent political ties until he was assassinated in 2005.

Solidere's redevelopment transformed the downtown area a district often referred to simply by the company's name and more residential and commercial developments are now planned in central Beirut.

But many projects are behind schedule because of political upheaval in Lebanon. The country was without a government and the downtown area was paralysed with protests for much of last year.

As its projects in Beirut progress, Solidere has been expanding rapidly abroad. It created an international unit in 2006 and incorporated it in the Dubai International Financial Centre last year, taking a 37.2 per cent stake.

Solidere International and Ajman are developing Al- Zorah, a Dh220bn ($60bn) self-contained city on the United Arab Emirates coast which will cover an area of 12 sq km. The developers say $10bn worth of land, 25minutes from Dubai airport, has already been sold.

In Egypt, Solidere has joined forces with the Sixth of October for Development and Investment CompanySixth of October for Development and Investment Company to develop two mixed-use town centres in the suburbs east and west of Cairo.

In Saudi Arabia, it is part of a consortium developing Jeddah's centre, charged with revitalising a 3m square ?metre area in the city through land reclamation and urban rejuvenation.

"Solidere has expanded regionally to take advantage of the opportunities abroad and to leverage its know-how and experience," says Nassib Ghobril, head of research at Byblos bank. "They... have established Solidere International as a regional player based in Dubai.

"The question not just for Solidere but for all of these projects is: will they be continued as planned or postponed or scaled back? We don't yet know what will be the full impact of the financial crisis on real estate in the Gulf."

But Mr Chammaa, who has been chairman of Solidere since its inception, says it will be able to weather the looming slowdown.

"Every developer will be affected by what has happened. To say otherwise is foolish," he says. "But what I'm saying is that our situation is such that we will be able to withstand this crisis much better than others."

The reason? "We have a very healthy balance sheet and we have a good net cash position with a significant amount of receivables in rent and from the sale of land," Mr Chammaa says.

Solidere is due this month to report its first-half results and Mr Chammaa says they will be "a very good percentage better" than previous periods. Last year, it recorded net profits of $156m in 2007, up 18 per cent on the previous year, but consolidated with Solidere International, net profits would have been $224m last year.

Far from being crippled by the financial crisis, Mr Chammaa insists the credit crunch is strengthening the company's ability to bargain. "Our situation in Ajman - we have $700m-$800m in cash and $2bn in receivables - means we are in a position to negotiate with the contractors and bring the prices down," he says.

Some analysts question whether Solidere will fare as well in the region as it did in Lebanon, where it enjoyed a monopoly and had close ties to the government.

Mr Chammaa dismisses such questions, saying Lebanon's recent history means Solidere can endure the most trying of conditions.

"Solidere survived despite two or three wars, a major economic downturn that lasted a few years, and we were blocked from doing many things when Hariri was out of power," he says. "I think the experience we have gained in Beirut gives us all the skills to survive and to do really well outside Lebanon."

By Anna Fifield in Beirut

© Financial Times 2009

Lebanon's Solidere confident in spite of share fall
Fri Apr 3, 2009 5:44am EDT ...

* Solidere says share value is "secure"

* Real estate projects continuing

* Demand not falling, property prices to rise

* Company has no liquidity, debt problems

* Continue to build on profits for 2009



By Yara Bayoumy

BEIRUT, April 3 (Reuters) - Lebanon's largest company real estate developer, Solidere (SOLA.BY)(SOLB.BY), remains confident about the future of the company, in spite of recent falls in its share price, a top company official said.

Solidere's A-share traded at $15.50 on Friday, a fall of 60 percent since its July 2008 peak of $40.

"There is no doubt that Solidere's share, in spite of the share drop... its value is secure," Mounir Douaidy, Solidere's general manager and chief financial officer said in a speech at an economic conference in Beirut.

"And it will definitely bounce back in the coming period to reflect the real value of assets."

Douaidy also said that Solidere's projects outside of Lebanon are continuing. Solidere International, partly owned by Solidere, and the UAE emirate of Ajman are jointly developing the $60 billion Al Zorah project.

"We have no liquidity problems, we have no debt problems, we have very sound portfolio of sound receivables. We have a solid balance sheet," Douaidy said on the sidelines of the conference.

The real estate sector in the Gulf, especially Dubai, has been hit by falling property prices, and developers have slowed or canceled projects. Thousands of redundancies have already been slashed in the once-booming sector in Dubai.

Douaidy, however, said Solidere had not been hit by falling demand in real estate in Lebanon. "The element of demand basically comes to a large extent from inside Lebanon, or from Lebanese expatriates... Therefore the demand is there and permanent."

Goldman Sachs said on Wednesday that the UAE real estate market is likely to remain under pressure in the near term due to weaker economic activity, slower population growth and tight liquidity.

Douaidy said he also expected property prices to rise: "The reason why prices have not fallen in Lebanon goes back to the nature of developers, who generally fund a large part of their projects' cost from downpayments of first buyers.

"Therefore they have the ability and readiness to wait and hold on to their prices until they get the desired price, especially in light of permanent demand."

Solidere reported 2008 first-half net profit of $83 million, a 37 percent rise, and has said it expected its full-year profit to surpass 2007's $156 million.

Asked about the company's outlook for 2009, Douaidy said:

"We will continue to build our profits and good results as we go forward and I think the potential is always there."

Ok new Quarterly...SOUKS OPENING SUMMER 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


http://solidere.com/solidere/pdf/Q1-2009.pdf

Also notice the many hotel companies who visited!

Real-estate giant Solidere reports net profit of $214.3 million in 2008

Forbes.com Staff
Tuesday, June 16, 2009




BEIRUT: The giant real estate company Solidere on Monday said that its net profit for 2008 reached $214.3 million, an increase of 18 percent compared to 2007. "We have recorded a total pretax profit of $214.3 million or $182.7 million after deducting income tax which reached $31.6 million," the company said in a statement.

The company added that the total size of the liquidity at the end of 2008 stood at $292 million, noting that Solidere is still preserving a very high liquidity that will enable it to finance most of the development projects in Beirut Central District.

It added that Solidere was able to attract investments over the past few months.

Solidere signed $294 million worth of investments in the past six months and is still negotiating with other investors who are keen to buy more properties.

It stressed that the company has $731 million worth of contracts that have been signed earlier and not yet collected.

"This cash will turn into profits for the next three years once the conditions of the contracts are met," the statement said.- new land??????

It added that Solidere International, which focuses its operation outside Lebanon, has cash liquidity close to $350 million at the end of 2008.


The statement said Solidere International did not mass any debts or losses despite the global credit squeeze which hit many real estate companies.

Solidere announced that it plans to complete the southern part of Beirut commercial souk which will be officially opened in the last semester of 2009.

It added that many of the 250 shops in the souk intend to open in June of this year.


The company will also continue building the northern part of the souk which will feature movie theaters, an theme park and grand store. This project is expected to boost the revenues of the company especially from the rents of shops.

Solidere added that values of its shares on Beirut Stock Exchange are expected to rise once these projects are completed.

Soliere A and B shares closed at $23.80 and $23.67 respectively on Monday's trading on the BSE.

Investors in general say that the outcome of the parliamentary elections in Lebanon has apparently relaxed the market. - The Daily Star

http://solidere.com/solidere/annual.html

2008 Annual report is in!

http://solidere.com/solidere/pdf/Q2-2009.pdf

Quarterly- Souks looking awesome

^^ So there will be a Saifi Village III - anyone have an idea how it will look?

^^ So there will be a Saifi Village III - anyone have an idea how it will look?

i think its in the new annual report..i know i saw iit somewhere

http://www.solidere.com/solidere/pdf/Q3-2009.pdf

http://i1.makcdn.com/Business2009/StaticContent_1/Style/logos/Main/MB_business.gif

Lebanon's Solidere eyes Saudi, Montenegro
Dec 07, 2009

By Alexander Dziadosz

CAIRO - Solidere International, a real estate firm part owned by Lebanon's Solidere, is eyeing land in Saudi Arabia and Montenegro, and aims to sell projects to investors in 2010, its executive director said.

Investors are eager to put money into real estate as stock markets fluctuate and interest rates stay low, Mounib Hammoud told Reuters in Cairo at the launch of a project with Egypt's Sixth of October Development and Investment (SODIC).

"Capital is there," he said. "If you package good real estate opportunities with solid names like Solidere and SODIC, based on wealth studies and wealth structures, I think you will be able to place them very easily.

"Next year... we could be able to sell down, at a premium, a number of the companies that we have established for specific projects," he said, adding it was too early to say which companies.

Hammoud said he saw opportunities to buy land in Lebanon, Egypt, Montenegro and Saudi Arabia, where he said there was a good chance to sell apartments to a large, young population.

"There's a need for a million apartments in Saudi Arabia today," he said. "There are lots of plots, very interesting plots of land in Riyadh and Jeddah."

He said he expects Lebanese land prices to rise through 2010 as a stable government heightens the appeal of the country as a destination for tourism, medical services, banking and other services.

"The market today is digesting the latest price hikes, and I think in the coming year you will see more increase in prices," he said. "In Lebanon, real estate gets sick, it sleeps, and then it wakes up. It never goes down, never."

Hammoud's company has reduced the size and aim of its Al Zorah project in the Ajman emirate of the United Arab Emirates and wants to target tourists with it, he said.

The original plan called for the construction of a $60 billion city to be built, as a joint venture with Ajman's government, on reclaimed land a 25 minute drive from Dubai's airport.

"We have changed completely the strategy on the project. We have reduced its size to a manageable size," he said. "Although it was a city, now we're trying to create a tourist entertainment destination to exploit the natural beauty of the site."

Solidere International is still working on the project's infrastructure, but the development would take longer than the original 15 years planned to complete it, he said.

Courtesy of miriam63 (uploaded today)

http://i49.tinypic.com/2ymc4rl.jpg

What is that tall commercial building in the bottom-left??

What is that tall commercial building in the bottom-left??

burj el murr renovated :S?

^^ yes it is the proposed Beirut Trade Center plan for El Murr Tower

http://www.solidere.com/solidere/pdf/Q4-2009.pdf

Store directory for Souks

http://solidere.com/solidere/2010q1.html

Saudi firm eyes Beirut property
10:30 | 06.05.10

Saudi Arabia's Al Khozama Management Company is in talks with Lebanon's Solidere to partner or acquire a mixed-used property in Beirut, its chairman has told Arabian Business.

AKMC, the property investment and management arm of the King Faisal Foundation, also plans to acquire residential property in London, Egypt and the US as it looks to grow the brand internationally, Prince Bandar bin Saud bin Khaled said.

"We're looking at projects outside of the kingdom," he said. "We're in final negotiations with a property owner [in Lebanon] to acquire. Or they will partner with us. We're talking to Solidare."

Solidere, which was founded by Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, is the company charged with the reconstruction and development of Beirut's city centre.

arabianbusiness.com



Read more: http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=297&storycode=3163015&c=3#ixzz0nBDcrobT

May 7, 2010, 8:00 am
Restaurants Help Lead Beirut’s Revival
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Hussein Malla/Associated Press

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb2/Htlebmn/dj-beirut-blogSpan.jpg

“Beirut Souks,” a shopping area in downtown Beirut, Lebanon.

After more than 30 years of civil war, invasion and occupation, Beirut is prospering again, perhaps on track to recapture its title as the Paris of the Middle East.

To be a Paris requires great restaurants, of course, and so in the coming months there are plans for world-class chefs and restaurateurs to open in the elegantly rebuilt downtown area, which had been the most heavily damaged part of the city.

“We are bringing in world-renowned chefs to make Beirut the food capital of the Middle East,” said Joseph Asseily, the chairman of Beirut Hospitality, a division of Solidere, the Lebanese company responsible for the planning and rebuilding of the central downtown area.

Solidere has completed nearly two-thirds of close to 400 projects, and more than 100 of the projects involve dining. And with the infrastructure in place and much of the retail completed, Solidere is now concentrating on the restaurants.

A L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon will closely replicate the Paris original when it opens in 2012.

Yannick Alléno, the chef with three Michelin stars at the Meurice in Paris, is building a casual place he’s calling STAY (Simple Table of Yannick Alléno), with a communal table, a pastry library, where desserts will be baked in long strips and sold by measure, and a tea room. It should be open next year.

Mourad Mazouz, who owns Momo and Club Gascon in London, and several small places in Paris, hopes to be ready by early December with a place that he is tentatively calling Momo at the Souks, and where the food will be a mix of Moroccan and French, with some Lebanese meze.

Zuma, a Japanese restaurant in London, plans a satellite. And Sophie Mitchell, a London chocolatier, will open a boutique-cafe, Coco and Cassia.

Antoine Westermann, with Michelin stars in Alsace and restaurants in Paris and Washington, is to open Relais Foch this year. Davide Bisetto, also Michelin-starred and working in Corsica, will have an Italian restaurant.

Relais de l’Entrecote, the French steak chain, already has two locations in Beirut. The Parisian baker Eric Kayser has also set up shop in Beirut. And a world-class, high-end global supermarket with everything from Italian potatoes to the finest Spanish cured hams, and even American Angus beef, opened in April.

A few Lebanese restaurants have been included in the mix, with the possibility that Chez Sami, a popular seafood place just north of Beirut in a coastal suburb, will open in the marina.

A mozzarella bar, M Cafe, is also in the works for this year.

Jean-Georges Vongerichten and his partner, Phil Suarez, have been invited to join this bandwagon and are considering it. Mr. Suarez, who recently spent several days in Beirut, was astonished by the kind of development going on.

Alain Ducasse, another globetrotting restaurateur, is not interested. “Not for now, it’s too unstable,” Mr. Ducasse said. “It takes a lot of courage to do something there.”

But Mr. Alléno disagreed.

“I get the feeling of joy in Beirut,” he said. “Right now it’s stable. A country going through a renaissance like Lebanon needs grand restaurants.”

Solidere records net profit of $182.2 million in 2009
By The Daily Star

Tuesday, June 01, 2010


BEIRUT: Solidere, the Lebanese company for the development and reconstruction of the Beirut Central District, announced its 2009 financial results which recorded a net profit of $182.2 million after deducting the $32.7 million of income tax.

Solidere said the results reflect the company’s capacity to generate profits despite the negative impact of the global financial crisis on the real estate sector in the region. “The financial situation of the company is much better than the situation of other real estate companies in the region because solidere is characterized by a high liquidity and an absence of indebtedness in addition to a good stock of lands and properties,” it said.

It added that other real estate companies suffer from a low volume of liquidity and an increase in the size of their debts in addition to a collapse in the value of their real estate and financial assets.

Solidere said revenues generated from the sale of land during 2009 reached $305 million, an increase of 19 percent from the year before (2008). It also reported the presence of $429 million worth of land sales contracts signed over the past years with a possibility to include them in the financial data during the coming three years.

“Moreover, negotiations are being currently held with investors for the potential sale of $450 million worth of real estate properties which could be possibly signed during the few coming months,” it stated.

Solidere’s liquidity reached $171 million by the end of 2009 added to $479 million worth of paper securities and $133 million generated from sales contracts unenclosed in the financial data of the company.

“This adds up to $650 million with an absence of indebtedness which gives the company the capability of accomplishing infrastructure projects in the region,” it said.

The company said its objective is to increase its yearly revenues by creating new real estate projects in the coming years. For that purpose, it accomplished its work on the southern part of the commercial project in Beirut Central District which will be formally opened during the two coming months. “However, the northern part of the project, which includes movie theaters and commercial shops, will be accomplished during two coming years,” it said. “This will increase the commercial activities in the downtown district area and will generate more revenues to Solidere from shops rentals in that area.” – The Daily Star

Solidere records net profit of $182.2 million in 2009
By The Daily Star

Tuesday, June 01, 2010


BEIRUT: Solidere, the Lebanese company for the development and reconstruction of the Beirut Central District, announced its 2009 financial results which recorded a net profit of $182.2 million after deducting the $32.7 million of income tax.

Solidere said the results reflect the company’s capacity to generate profits despite the negative impact of the global financial crisis on the real estate sector in the region. “The financial situation of the company is much better than the situation of other real estate companies in the region because solidere is characterized by a high liquidity and an absence of indebtedness in addition to a good stock of lands and properties,” it said.

It added that other real estate companies suffer from a low volume of liquidity and an increase in the size of their debts in addition to a collapse in the value of their real estate and financial assets.

Solidere said revenues generated from the sale of land during 2009 reached $305 million, an increase of 19 percent from the year before (2008). It also reported the presence of $429 million worth of land sales contracts signed over the past years with a possibility to include them in the financial data during the coming three years.

“Moreover, negotiations are being currently held with investors for the potential sale of $450 million worth of real estate properties which could be possibly signed during the few coming months,” it stated.

Solidere’s liquidity reached $171 million by the end of 2009 added to $479 million worth of paper securities and $133 million generated from sales contracts unenclosed in the financial data of the company.

“This adds up to $650 million with an absence of indebtedness which gives the company the capability of accomplishing infrastructure projects in the region,” it said.

The company said its objective is to increase its yearly revenues by creating new real estate projects in the coming years. For that purpose, it accomplished its work on the southern part of the commercial project in Beirut Central District which will be formally opened during the two coming months. “However, the northern part of the project, which includes movie theaters and commercial shops, will be accomplished during two coming years,” it said. “This will increase the commercial activities in the downtown district area and will generate more revenues to Solidere from shops rentals in that area.” – The Daily Star

“Moreover, negotiations are being currently held with investors for the potential sale of $450 million worth of real estate properties which could be possibly signed during the few coming months,” it stated.

A family friend went to the planning of this, he said deyaar and Qatar is planning enormous projects for DT Beirut, worth up to 1 billion dollars. I did some research and found this on the discussion of the aftermath of the Arab Investment Summit:

London based architecture house wins provisional consent for Beirut private homes

Plan to enlarge Beirut airport capacity to 12 million passengers per year

Global Property Guide highlights a renaissance in Beirut’s real estate

Dubai-based developer Deyaar to propose Beirut realty venture

Real progress in Lebanon’s real estate sector

Media city planned for Beirut

Number of tourists to Lebanon up 43.5%

Beirut hotels revenue/available room highest worldwide

UAE‘s Arabtec Construction to establish subsidiary in Lebanon

Real estate in Lebanon projected to grow by 10% to 15% until 2013

UAE investments in Lebanon exceed USD 1 billion, represent over 41 per cent of total value of Arab projects in the country

Work begins on $800 million BeitMisk housing project in Lebanon


• Lebanon Telecom Regulator grants three new internet licenses

Lebanon’s IT Market forecasted to expand by 7%

Lebanon is second biggest exporter and importer of IT and ICT-enabled services in Arab world

Lebanon well-positioned to become hub for IT services

Etisalat eyes Syria, Lebanon and Libya telecommunications

Lebanon is second biggest exporter and importer of IT and ICT-enabled services in Arab world

OGERO awards Zhone major equipment contract in Lebanon

Five companies to establish international call centers in Lebanon

Lebanon’s Telecommunications Ministry to expand ADSL Internet in Lebanon(hamdillah)

Foreign investors pounce on Lebanon''s new Eurobonds

Bank deposits and assets to rise in Lebanon

Number of tourists to Lebanon up 43.5%

Lebanon is transforming into modern tourist and business hub

Kuwaiti citizens are the primary investors in the Lebanese real estate market

Lebanese real estate giant Solidere announces 18 % rise in profit

Lebanese Central Bank launches Secure Information Technology Infrastructure project

Lebanese Telecommunications Ministry launches Wimax service

Beltone sees high growth prospects in international operations of Lebanese banks

First solar car in Arab region made by Lebanese team

This was on the Arab Investment Summit 2010 summary which took place in Abu Dhabi from the 3rd to 4th of May. Looks like we are heading towards a major Business, and touristic revolution in Lebanon. Now we just need our government to actually help their people, and build their country's infrastructure.

Also AKMC Saudi Arabia is planning a huge tower in DT. Mixed use. They are under negotiations with Solidere.

---

I was very surprised today to see an add for Solidere on CNN.com...

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae152/lebz06/Screenshot2010-06-16at23028AM.png

^^ They are sponsoring the show "Quest Means Business" in June. Good for them!

http://solidere.com/solidere/2010q2.html

^^
a link from the quarterly : An episode of BBC's Heritage heroes dedicated to the Late Rafic Hariri Rafic Hariri a heritage hero (http://www.heritageheroes.org/series/series-1/new-york-beirut-india)

2009 Annual Report available http://solidere.com/solidere/annual.html

http://www.solidere.com/beirut-souks/

Awesome photos and the zaha dept store is still shown:)

Hi everyone,

I'm having the BCD - solidere project as a case study for one of my courses and i want to show the financial budget for the total project.
All what i found is the annual reports with detailing and i'm not that good in "financial reports". Anyone could help?

A brief simple presentation for the total budget is needed.

Regards,

^^ heres the 2009 Solidere Financial and Auditors Report, hope it helps :)

http://www.solidere.com/solidere/pdf/2009/financial-report.pdf

Thank you very much, that was really helpful.

http://solidere.com/solidere/2010q3.html

http://solidere.com/solidere/2010q4.html

doesnt that mean that the annual '10 is coming up soon too??

doesnt that mean that the annual '10 is coming up soon too??

probably not till july or august

http://www.solidere.com/solidere/2011q1.html

Also the development section is now working..bu not all seem current ie they have new name of project and different render...altho some new things on there

Hmm with the new government..i wonder if anything will affect Solidere. The same people in office are the ones that said Solidere is illegal..You have recently seen action on the TRA etc...hope they arent stupid enough to do anything.

http://solidere.com/solidere/2011q2.html

Isn't it time they release the 2010 annual report?

Waiting...they had there annual meeting and should be out any time now

allot of projects on the website..theres one new office building next to Damacs...Its labelled as Solidere Real Estate Development Office...looks cool..I dont know how to copy the pictures

send the links to my page i'll copy the pictures...

You mean this?

http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af175/_Zippo_/SSC%20Projects%20Pictures/Unidentified%20Projects/soliderenewofficebuildingnearDamac.jpg

Ouf! There's a project for Zaha Hadid right in front of the Palladium. Apparently it's Al-Mawared bank headquarters, for Zaha Hadid and Raed Abillama.

http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af175/_Zippo_/SSC%20Projects%20Pictures/Unidentified%20Projects/Al-MawaredBankheadquarters-ZahaHadid-RaedAbillama.jpg

lol,do we still have empty plots left in DT area?

mm nice but do you habe links like from the soidere website?

^^ Not really the page u were expecting. It's an application where u browse the real estates in Solidere and see their corresponding projects.
Here u go:

http://www.solidere.com/devs/index.php

Nice thanks!

Mounir Douaidy: "Real estate in Lebanon is sustainable compared to regional property markets".

August/September 2011
Solidere (The Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut) is the biggest development company in Lebanon. The company was established to revitalize the Central District of Beirut which was ruined during the 15-year civil strife. Solidere is an association of property rights holders and investors whose contribution has made possible the financing and execution of the required infrastructure allowing the project to move forward. A joint-stock corporation established formally on May 5, 1994 following a statutory meeting of its shareholders, Solidere's share capital is made up of common stock of two types totaling $1.82 billion. Mounir Douaidy, General Manager and Chief Financial Officer of Solidere spoke to Ekaruna.

Q. What general phases did Solidere go through since its inception?

A. When Solidere was established, it was initially announced that the BCD project will be executed in two phases. Phase I was set to tackle all reconstruction works in the traditional city center, while the second phase was planned to tackle the development of the waterfront. Nevertheless, with time the two phases overlapped. As we were restoring the traditional city, we also started executing some parts of phase II mainly reclaiming the land and cleaning the Normandy area, which over the years had become an environmentally hazardous site, due to the huge amount of waste that was accumulated in the area. Thus, cleaning that area became a priority followed by backfilling and creating the land known today as the new waterfront.

The reclaimed land had also to be protected by sea defenses that consisted of two defense lines. The construction of these two defense lines became part of the major infrastructure works of the reclaimed area in addition to the western marina. So, basically we did all these works in phase II in parallel to the reconstruction and development works in the traditional BCD.

Today, after 16 years, we have completed 90 to 95% of the infrastructure works in the traditional downtown (phase I) in addition to major parts of the waterfront (phase II) and we are moving forward with the overall construction process including the development of Solidere's own properties, monitoring the developments of third party investors, introducing services in the city center, creating public areas and open spaces concentrating on completing phase II. Now, you will see the reclaimed area physically coming to life after constructing the roads which materializes the continuity between the traditional BCD and the waterfront.

Q. What is the total land area of Solidere, and how much of this land is invested?

A. The total surface area of Solidere is 1.9 million sqm of which 700,000 sqm is reclaimed. On the other hand, the master plan sets the maximum amount of built up area in Solidere at an estimated 4.69 million sqm. Commercially, we usually deal with the built up area rather than the surface area. Approximately 600,000 sqm of the 4.69 million sqm comprises all the properties that previously existed and were recuperated or renovated by their original owners, especially the religious monuments and the governmental buildings. Approximately Two million of the remaining 4 million sqm of built up area were sold to third party investors while we developed our own projects. Currently there's about 200,000 sqm which were developed by Solidere itself including the southern part of the Souks of Beirut that was completed recently. So, basically, the major part of the built up area was subject to investment by third party developers.

Q. According to the master plan, what types of projects can be constructed in Solidere?

A. Beirut Central District is a mixed-use development comprising residential, office, commercial and retail spaces in addition to spaces offered for recreational and cultural proposes. There are guidelines in the masterplan that indicate the percentage for each. The residential component is about 40%, while 50% is set for office and retail spaces, and the remaining 10% covers everything else including the hotels, hospitality venues, plus recreational and cultural centers.

Q. When did Solidere start making a profit?

A. Solidere was profitable during its first year of operation, and this has been the case since the company's inception. Land sales grew over the years which led to a substantial increase in profits that have peaked in 2010 at $196 million after taxes, or $230 million before taxes. As a result of its strategy and operational performance, the company has distributed dividends to its shareholders from these profits nine times during the last 16 years. Total dividends distributed amount to approximately USD 1 Billion.

Q. How do you explain that this profitable performance has not been reflected in the stock exchange in terms of share prices that are fluctuating dramatically in the past 16 years?

A. When it comes to financial markets, the strong fundamentals of any company may get affected by external and circumstantial factors that are beyond its control. We have during the last 16 years faced several turbulent periods locally and regionally which has negatively affected the share prices. However the valuation of the company based on its assets remains strong and unaffected because the fundamentals are there and despite Lebanon's various challenges, property prices are continuously appreciating. It is important to note that properties built in Solidere have held to their values, and appreciated during the previous periods. Hence, there should be no concerns relating to the value of Solidere's assets.

Nevertheless, this good asset value of Solidere is not reflected in the stock market and share prices are fluctuating due to external risk factors. Investors always look at risks that could be related to country risks or to the level of the liquidity in the stock market itself. We should admit that the Beirut Stock Exchange hasn't really reached a satisfactory level of liquidity and activity so far. There is enough potential though not yet entirely exploited. In the future, the more liquidity is abundant in the financial markets, the more share prices will get positively affected. The less political instability there is in Lebanon and the region, the more is the possibility of share prices going up. We shouldn't also disregard the impact of the international financial crisis on the overall stock markets and the behavior of international stock exchanges.

Q. If this is true, then why in late 90s, when we didn't face such circumstances, Solidere share prices depreciated exponentially?

A. In the beginning, when all former owners and property right holders acquired shares, many of the smaller shareholders decided to convert their shares into cash by selling them in the market. This rush augmented the supply side of the shares. And naturally, when you have bigger supply, prices go down. This was the primary reason for the depreciation that we witnessed in the 90s coupled with some internal political factors. After all, each period has its own characteristics and as a rule, we should keep in mind that risk factors play a major role in determining share prices.

Q. In terms of Solidere and private developers, what major projects are already executed, what are the ongoing ones and what new projects are in the pipeline?

A. As we mentioned earlier, more than 2 million sqm of built-up area has been sold to third party developers and most of the planned projects have been already executed; few are still ongoing, several of which are in the design phase. Actually, 262 projects comprising 1,277,553 million sqm have been completed.

There are over third party projects of a residential and hospitality nature that are currently under development. When completed we expect these to add value to the overall urban environment and the Beirut Central District experience

Regarding occupancy, during the last few years we've seen significant improvement in the occupancy rates of the residential and commercial spaces. The retail sector is the most promising. Most of the shops are leased, at least the ones that are owned by Solidere. It's rare to find a retail space in Solidere which is not occupied. All third party developments are mainly occupied by end users.

Q. What is the estimated value of the executed projects and what about Solidere's portfolio?

A. By calculating the price of the land sold, the price of the 2 million built up area that is completed, I would say that at current prices, the estimated market value of third party projects is around $10 billion.

On the other hand, Solidere is developing its own projects and creating its own portfolio of real estate properties that are revenue generating. Retailers already occupy significant spaces in the southern parts of the Souks project which was completed almost a year and a half ago.

Before the Souks, our portfolio primarily consisted of residential spaces and renovated old buildings that were also destined for residential use. Besides, we had office buildings like the ESCWA, the embassy complex, and retail areas in different locations. Our portfolio of properties will grow further in 2012 and onward primarily because the remaining components of the Souks will be completed, mainly the cinema complex in less the one year and the department store three years from now.

Q. Rental income and yields constitute an important part of Solidere's revenues. Is the company satisfied with the outcome? What are the short-term and long-term rental projections?

A. Our rental income is increasing every year because more revenue generating properties are added to our portfolio. Our strategy is based on leasing everything that we own rather than selling them. As the Souks project is completed parallel to other projects that are entitled to generate revenue from leasing, our rental income will increase every year.

In 2010, rental outcome went up to $41 million from $27 million in 2009. The rental income will definitely grow as we add on more properties to our portfolio hoping to increase our annual rental income to $100 million within the next five years.

As for the rental yields, which is measured in percentage terms, it is obtained by calculating the relationship between the rent and the value of the property. The rental yield is a good way for measuring profitability; the return that any property generates compared to its value. Now as property values in Solidere continue to climb, rental rates are not expected to go up much and will remain reasonable. So, if we want to measure the rental yields, they will not reflect the genuine profitability or the performance of the properties in Solidere. In any case, our rental yields differ from residential to offices and retail. The highest yields come from the retail followed by offices and then residential.

Q. When and why did you decide to establish Solidere International? What are the projects initiated by SI?

A. Solidere International was created in 2007. At that time, the management of Solidere realized that we have developed enough expertise in urban design and development and the name Solidere had become a brand for reconstruction and rehabilitation of entire cities. The management believed that this experience could be exported outside the boundaries of Beirut. Solidere was solicited by many countries and developers from all over the world and mainly the region. However, by law, Solidere could operate only in BCD as a Lebanese company, so there had to be another vehicle to do the work outside Lebanon. Hence, Solidere International (SI) was created following a majority decision by the shareholders of Solidere where many regional investors and international financial institutions participated as shareholders. Today, Solidere Lebanon owns 38% of Solidere international. There are agreements between Solidere and SI whereby SI has the right to use the Solidere name and operate with the support of the technical teams of Solidere in Beirut.

Soon the company received many offers for mega urban projects mainly in the UAE and Egypt, while efforts at exploring the Saudi Arabian market are ongoing. The UAE development is located in the emirate of Ajman and is known as the Al Zorah project. Originally, it was supposed to be a huge mixed-use project but when the real estate sector of the UAE was impacted by the international financial crisis, we felt that the project is too huge to be executed in these circumstances, so we downsized the project by decapitalizing the company. We returned part of the land and part of the cash to the shareholders. Obviously SI was not affected financially by these steps because the project wasn't as yet launched. Now, Al Zorah has become a touristic project, smaller in size and fit with upcoming market trends.

In Egypt, we have two major developments in Cairo: East Town and West Town, both extensions to the capital. Here, SI is providing services rather than acting as an investor. Nevertheless, we are consolidating our activity there to see how things would evolve in Egypt.

Currently, we are closely looking into the Saudi market in addition to other opportunities in the Mediterranean basin where we believe lies plenty of opportunities for Solidere International.

Q. What can you say about the current situation of the real estate sector in Lebanon in general and Solidere in particular?

A. The real estate sector in Lebanon has been growing for the last five years until a couple of years ago when it started to slow down a little due to the political and economic conditions in the country. In Solidere, developers continue to see healthy demand. Actually real estate in Lebanon is sustainable compared to regional real estate markets that mostly rely on foreign investors. This dependence on foreigners proved unsustainable when the global financial crisis hit the real estate markets.

In contrast, the Lebanese market mainly depends on the Lebanese diaspora, Lebanese expats living and generating money in the GCC and even other parts of the world. These expats continue coming back to Lebanon and investing heavily in real estate. It's a fact that the positive balance of payments of the country is due to the remittances of the Lebanese expats, and the largest part of this money is invested in the real estate sector.

There are no concerns within the Beirut Central District area in terms of demand and sales of land and properties. Let us not forget that we have already sold 2 million sqm of built-up area to third party investors in the last 15 years. We continue to have demand for developing new projects in the coming few years. Demand in Lebanon could slow down due to circumstances, as it happened marginally in the last 12 months but we already feel that this has started to change as expats and investor are regaining interest in the Lebanese real estate market.

© Ekaruna 2011

^^ I would really like a journalist to ask them about how they robbed 600 families, a total of 10,000 people of their homes, businesses and lands in downtown in order to create their little gulf-oriented city center.
Its such a shame how the rights of people get overlooked in this country at the hands of such a despicable company. The people of solidere bathe in the millions of dollars they stole from those families, and no one cares.

^^ so where are those 10,000 people?
and r u sure this is not an anti-hariri propaganda?

please mods do not ban Lebanon-Russia, he's new here and doesn't know the rules.

..

Lebanon-Russia, you cannot speak in this way to other forumers, w 2ad ma tole3 7aleeb l nawar, cuz you're gonna get yourself an immediate ban.
I know you're new here, but please read the forum rules:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/announcement.php?f=694&a=459

Thank you!

Ok sorry, excuse me guys although I live in Russia but i love Lebanon, and I respect all religions I have best friends who r from different religions I even some times spoke to my grandma who is Druze shaykha in such way,,, anyways again sorry guys

^^ so where are those 10,000 people?
and r u sure this is not an anti-hariri propaganda?

^^ no, this is not anti-hariri propaganda, I have never used this site to propagate any political message other than a neutral stance and I do not plan on starting now.

I speak on behalf of my own family. we were robbed of an apartment, a cafe and an office suite. The 10,000 people can't do anything about it because solidere is backed up by the government and bribes its way into getting what it wants, its a known fact. Even if those 10,000 people where to file suits against solidere, nothing would go through because solidere ensures everyone is on their side. In compensation we recieved 'stock bonds' in solidere that are worth a little over 700$, pathetic for pieces of land that are worth in their tens of millions.

Solidere's most recent crimes went against the jeweler's association, it wanted to rob them of bought retail space in beirut souks in order to sell them to other companies, to make more profit. It even went so low as to modify official documents to prove itself innocent.

Do not take this as a political message, it's purpose is to enlighten you that solidere is not an all-clean and shiny organisation. It is vile.

ya3ni mbayan 3laykon enkon teb3een la 7ezib allah see I'm derzi but I love Hariri for making us proud of lebanon, he haven't stolen any one if he didnt do what he have done then Beirut would have looked like chicken farm for example ( Da7yi and OOze3i ) khalas 7ellu 3ana. u people r mentally sick and brain washed, go tjawazu mot3a and cry for ur 7usain as if he is the only one who was screwed up, go see what is happening to Syrians so 7usain and this man forgot his name who was kidnapped in Lybia aaa musa el sader what he is normal human like us no difference him and ur nasrala, c I agree that nasralah is a very good man like el nabi Mo7amad who was also very smart by convincing fathers its halal to sleep with there daughters and with this lm3atara 9 years old fatima wallah today I felt sorry for a 25 years old girl who was getting pain from me fa ma7aram 9 years old, ba3den 5ayi shu baddak te3dol la te3dol laaay el mara ma fiya tetjawaz 4 lol anyways roo7u mat3u w7ellu 3ana ba3a

mabaddi e7ki siyesi aw taa2ifeeyi bas bighabekon bettal3u 7aleeb el nawar leave us alone btw wallah I liveed in Da7yi for a month and i screwed three altho they new i'm lebanese American bas wallah i slept with 3 girls menkon we7di mjawazi bas jawza bdubai w tnayn m7ajabet we7di awal mara marodit totla3 3albayt ma3i fa nazzalit el kor2aan w7alaft 3le enu mabyeseer shi bas llama ballashit od2ara takhtakhit f 7eji tetkhabu b3abayeekon 7elluuu 3ana ba2a

Ok sorry, excuse me guys although I live in Russia but i love Lebanon, and I respect all religions I have best friends who r from different religions I even some times spoke to my grandma who is Druze shaykha in such way,,, anyways again sorry guys

^^ I do not care what or who you've done in Da7ye, clearly you have read my username and imprinted me with religion I do not belong to but respect very well. You did not take the time to ask me a question to justify my post, you took it upon yourself instead to insult me, and discriminate against a religion that had nothing to do with this post.
You are new here I am not going to return the favor you have done to me now,I advise you to watch what you say before you get yourself banned.
Your apology is accepted.

Im going to play devils advocate for a min. Do you honestly think those properties were worth anything back then? Do you think people would have lived in or visited the area the way it was? I mean it was a rubble torn mess with no infrastructure..open sewer pits and was a jungle... Sure values skyrocketed since..The owners were given the opportunity to retain if they could renovate them and most didnt..There was also the nightmare of 100s claiming ownership of one building or shop...Do i think it could have been better ...absolutely

So true we need a downtown for beirut man.. beirut was a mess as it was, i like solidere as it is and support it for its restoring the downtown.. and is it pricy,, its a downtown all downtowns are pricy in case you don't notice go to other downtown cities / new york/paris so on and on.. it has to be pricy and they renovated it in a good way and thats why it costed too much..

So why don't those 10.000 people sue Solidere, now that the goverment is ruled (sadly) by the March 8th.

Im going to play devils advocate for a min. Do you honestly think those properties were worth anything back then? Do you think people would have lived in or visited the area the way it was? I mean it was a rubble torn mess with no infrastructure..open sewer pits and was a jungle... Sure values skyrocketed since..The owners were given the opportunity to retain if they could renovate them and most didnt..There was also the nightmare of 100s claiming ownership of one building or shop...Do i think it could have been better ...absolutely

^^ I'm sure they were worth much more than the bonds that were given 'in compensation' to the select few that received them, given that most families never received anything at all.

Also another note is that there was no opportunity for renovation, the owners were scratched out of the equation by solidere's policy as it sought to wrest control of all plots inside the central district. It could have been a LOT better, or at least cleaner.

Think of other cities ravished by multi-ethnic war, almost all of them had an ultra powerful government-backed company take charge of the general renovations, but they kept the properties and the rights with the people, and after renovation allowed them to rebuild, reopen and re-invest.

The central district of Sarajevo was leveled during the Bosnian war. Look at it now, not only is it completely renovated (and in much less time than it took solidere), but its really bridging the cultural gap between residents because it retained its function as a central space within the city for people of all classes.

Downtown Beirut sure looks nice and polished, but it fails at providing the least of what it did before, the souks, the mix of people, the urban fabric, the traditional feel. Instead its been turned into a prince-town where even millionaires wont be able to afford apartments if prices continue rising.

It's empty 9 months a year, and catering to the ultra-rich in the remaining 3.
Downtown Beirut today is a failure of what it could have been.

@GA1992 I'm not saying it shouldn't be pricey, sure the central districts of all cities are expensive. But none of them is as super-expensive as the BCD, when rental prices for same-sized apartments varying 5,000 dollars a month between solidere and neighboring Sodeco, an up-class neighborhood, there's a huge problem. Also as reputable as the comparison to Paris is, it is not quite justified, Beirut is older and much more exotic than Paris, it has a soul of its own, a soul we now find in the districts of Hamra, Gemmayze, Achrafieh, Verdun... ect. but no longer in Downtown Beirut.

Downtown Beirut is no longer an experience, its just something you look at when you pass by and then move on to something else worth experiencing. The souks and the bike trail aim at revitalizing that aspect. But both have failed to give Beirut back her 'soul'.

So why don't those 10.000 people sue Solidere, now that the goverment is ruled (sadly) by the March 8th.


^^ no, this is not anti-hariri propaganda, I have never used this site to propagate any political message other than a neutral stance and I do not plan on starting now.

I speak on behalf of my own family. we were robbed of an apartment, a cafe and an office suite. The 10,000 people can't do anything about it because solidere is backed up by the government and bribes its way into getting what it wants, its a known fact. Even if those 10,000 people where to file suits against solidere, nothing would go through because solidere ensures everyone is on their side. In compensation we recieved 'stock bonds' in solidere that are worth a little over 700$, pathetic for pieces of land that are worth in their tens of millions.

Solidere has bribed judges before and it can do it again.

Please stop making political references, its a weak and irrelevant point. Solidere never had anything to do with 8 or 14 March, it is a government backed organization, and if you remember at the time of solidere's creation, there was no such political stance.

^^ I am sorry, but i totally believe after the civil war, Solidere was most needed, enno , come on , what solidere done is like a miracle,Thank god we have solidere.

^^ yes a strong company was needed, but no what solidere has done is not a miracle, it falls far short from being a regular expectation rather than a miracle.

What has been done to Sarajevo is a miracle, to Dubrovnik a miracle, to Dresden and Cologne miracles, even Tyre (which has been completely destroyed on several occasions) is a miracle, all built-up and renovated with the finest techniques while keeping its urban, social and cultural fabrics in check. Downtown Beirut is lifeless compared to other cities. Notice, 75 % of Beirut street-life thread is shot outside of Downtown Beirut.

^^ I am sorry, but i totally believe after the civil war, Solidere was most needed, enno , come on , what solidere done is like a miracle,Thank god we have solidere.

I usually keep myself from getting "involved" in such discussions, as I tend to be as objective as I can and spare you from my personal opinions, but believe me Hassoun when I tell you that Solidere is not that saint you've been praising. Let's put it this way and say, "it has more that what meets the eye"...

Oh, and I tend to "know what am talking about", for those who are "pretending" so. (general statement, no one is intended whatsoever)

^^ who said they are saints?but what they have done was awesome and much needed after all what happened to the city.

^^ The Beirut Central District was gonna be filled with luxury buildings sooner or later, because its the "center" of the city, as it has always been (wasat l balad). The good thing that Solidere did was that it has prevented the "national urban organizing" (l tanzeem l madani) from controlling how it will look after the war, as we all know that this institution (l tanzeem l madani) doesn't have a solid plan for what its name indicates, which is "urban planning". If left, it would have looked fancy, but unorganized.

The bad thing thought, is that what's "organizing" the center of the city is a "private company", and I don't care to whom it refers. (same case in Dahieh, where the tanzeem l madani has nothing to do as well.)

i'm sorry but i think solidere is doing great.. did anyone see the pictures of center city as it was and as it is now???? its freaking classy, i've visited a couple of central parts such as new york, boston, philly.. my cousin visited paris and marseille and we still agree that between all of those, beirut has such a nice centre-ville feel that i didn't feel in neither of those huge cities.. same thing happened with a lot of my friends that saw pictures or went to lebanon without even being lebanese and thought the same exact thing.

i'm sorry but i mean everyone in lebanon robs its obvious that 8 or 14 march rob the "S**t" out of all lebanese, if solidere did rob and gave us such a nice centre ville i'm ok with it.. as long as something comes back in return then its not robbing.. they are doing it for the sake of the country and not for personal issues like, sadly, 99.9% of the politicians in lebanon..

please mods do not ban Lebanon-Russia, he's new here and doesn't know the rules.

..

Lebanon-Russia, you cannot speak in this way to other forumers, w 2ad ma tole3 7aleeb l nawar, cuz you're gonna get yourself an immediate ban.
I know you're new here, but please read the forum rules:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/announcement.php?f=694&a=459

Thank you!

Thanks for providing the initial warning. Any subsequent violations will result in moderator action.

i'm sorry but i think solidere is doing great.. did anyone see the pictures of center city as it was and as it is now???? its freaking classy, i've visited a couple of central parts such as new york, boston, philly.. my cousin visited paris and marseille and we still agree that between all of those, beirut has such a nice centre-ville feel that i didn't feel in neither of those huge cities.. same thing happened with a lot of my friends that saw pictures or went to lebanon without even being lebanese and thought the same exact thing.

i'm sorry but i mean everyone in lebanon robs its obvious that 8 or 14 march rob the "S**t" out of all lebanese, if solidere did rob and gave us such a nice centre ville i'm ok with it.. as long as something comes back in return then its not robbing.. they are doing it for the sake of the country and not for personal issues like, sadly, 99.9% of the politicians in lebanon..

^^ You need to define boundaries to your comparisons, you cannot compare Beirut to New York or any other american city and even to Paris, because neither one of those cities saw destruction on the massive scale Beirut experienced. One must be careful to who we are allowed to compare to, not every city applies, that's why in my previous post I stated very specific cities such as Sarajevo, Dubrovnik, Tyre, Cologne.. ect. I did not do this blindly. These cities survived massive waves of destruction due to war and ethnic strife, and yet in the scope of their rebuilding retained all the cultural aspects of their previous state, something downtown Beirut lost due to solidere's policies.

Please I ask you to take a little time and study the case of Sarajevo. Its strikingly similar, yet so much more successful and on an even smaller budget than the pathetically huge amounts of money dumped on solidere for no reason. Sarajevo is an example of how Beirut should be now.

Also you cannot consider the reason behind solidere's robbery a noble one, its not, many of those people left the country or went into poverty after their assets where forcefully taken from them. The only authentic shop in downtown Beirut where the original owners still own the shop is the Dikene and dry cleaning center on the corner of the St.Elias Greek Melkite Catholic Cathedral on Nijmeh Square, they have to sell the bottle of water for 5,000 L.L in order to pay the taxes imposed by solidere on them in order to drive them out.

An almost perfect job on Solidere behalf! I can see no other way this could have been done.
Dont forget rebuilding takes time, a lot of time.. theres a hue part of downtown thats still not built! you cant expect it to be flawless within 10 years. Life never stopped in any part of Beirut, but it did in DT. 10 years ago it was a pile of shit, and during those 10 years the world has changed

very true Joe.KL Thanks to Solidere and about rebuilding take time, wallah Man It took me a week to finish renovating the bathroom

What's up with the annual report!! It's been way too long

http://solidere.com/solidere/annual.html

IT´S HERE! BUUUYAAA

http://solidere.com/solidere/annual.html

IT´S HERE! BUUUYAAA
Yeach finally!

4 new projects introduced? or did we already know about them?

"Office Building"
http://i52.tinypic.com/11id8gh.jpg

"Wellness Spa and Apartments"
http://i53.tinypic.com/etxgcp.jpg

"178 Saifi Village"
http://i56.tinypic.com/xcve6u.jpg

"Beirut Fitness Center"
http://i51.tinypic.com/a15qv4.jpg

4 new projects introduced? or did we already know about them?


"Wellness Spa and Apartments"
http://i53.tinypic.com/etxgcp.jpg



The above, I think, replaces the Bernard Khoury project for Mina 1338, aka "Le Passage de Hoyek:"

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=398095

Too bad. The BK project was interesting, even though it didn't obey the area's street wall controls (or maybe because it didn't)..

"Beirut Fitness Center"
http://i51.tinypic.com/a15qv4.jpg

i think we already have a thread for this

FFA: Solidere target share $22 October 04, 2011 01:43 AM The Daily Star
BEIRUT: FFA Private Bank said that the fair price of Solidere shares during the current real estate market is $22 per share.

“We accordingly assign an overweight recommendation given that the current price is at a discount of more than 10 percent to our fair value estimate,” FFA Private Bank said in comprehensive report on the real estate giant Solidere.

It also gave an upbeat assessment of the company this year.

“We recognize Solidere’s position in its domestic market as the prime land owner and master developer in the Beirut Central District, its strong track record in developing superior quality properties and infrastructure, and its revenue diversification strategy to counterbalance the depletion of its land bank.

“We like the firm’s high operating margins, relatively low levels of indebtedness, and are encouraged by recent land signings on the Waterfront area despite softer macroeconomic and real estate conditions.

“While upcoming investments are expected to strain cash flows in the short term, we expect the cash position to improve starting 2013 as the real estate cycle improves,” the report said.

i think we already have a thread for this

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1356885

ANNUAL REPORT FINALLY OUT...

http://solidere.com/solidere/pdf/2010/ar2010.pdf

http://solidere.com/solidere/2011q4.html