Fourteen years after opening for business, the Lebanese Company for the Reconstruction & Development of Central Beirut (Solidere), looks very different, as does the Beirut business district it was launched to revive. Solidere has worked on a series of projects in the Lebanese capital, transforming the business centre that was ravaged by civil war. It has restored damaged buildings, built roads, infrastructure, commercial and residential real estate, and has started to reclaim land that will be used to extend the city centre.

Phase one of the reconstruction project was completed in 2004, and phase two is scheduled to end in 2025. As it makes progress towards redeveloping Beirut, the company is reviewing its plans for the future. Solidere now aims to pursue projects abroad.

In 2006, shareholders approved the creation of Solidere International (SI), which was incorporated in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in July 2007. The creation of SI was a turning point for the company as it is through the new arm, in which it holds a 33 per cent stake, that Solidere is developing projects in Egypt and the UAE.

Structure

With paid-up capital of $1.65bn and a market capitalisation of about $3bn, Solidere dominates the Beirut Stock Exchange and its global depository receipts are listed on the London Stock Exchange. Eventually, SI will also list. It has an authorised capital of $1.5bn, of which $700m is paid up. Its other shareholders are Gulf and Lebanese investors.

Outside Beirut, SI has established separate companies to pursue its projects. In Cairo, Solidere Egypt has partnered with the Sixth of October for Development & Investment Company (Sodic) to develop two mixed-use town centres in the suburbs, to the east and west of the city.

Its role in the reconstruction of Beirut city centre has made the company a household name in Lebanon. Solidere was established during the premiership of the late Rafik Hariri and his family retains a stake in the company, which describes itself as a ‘government-empowered private development corporation’.

Solidere’s existing land bank emanates from property lots in the city centre, which it swapped with their pre-war owners for shares in the company. The rest of the company’s capital was raised through cash subscriptions to an initial public offering.