Solidere
Lebanese company set up in 1994 to rebuild central Beirut, in which Antoun Sehnaoui's SGBL group is a major shareholder
| Solidere
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Public company |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Founder(s) | Established under law sponsored by Rafic Hariri |
| Headquarters | Beirut |
| Industry | Property |
Solidere (the Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District) is the company set up in 1994 to rebuild the centre of Beirut. It was given the power to pool thousands of fragmented plots into one real-estate company, to compensate the former owners in shares, and to carry out the reconstruction. The law was the project of Rafic Hariri. The municipality of Beirut is a shareholder and has said for years that it is shut out of the governance. Antoun Sehnaoui's SGBL group has been one of the largest shareholders since 2018. In October 2026 the Beirut daily Al-Akhbar raised the possibility that a stake of that size could be sold on to companies registered to people holding a foreign nationality and an Israeli one. No such sale has been published.[1][2]
The company
The centre had been destroyed in the civil war. The 1994 law did not buy the owners out in cash. It made them shareholders in the company that now held their land. Because ownership is held as shares, a buyer acquires shares rather than named buildings. In 2026 the cabinet considered extending the company’s mandate. Municipal officials said they had not been consulted. A critic of the extension, Safa, told The New Arab that once a bloc owns more than 51 per cent it sets the policy, and that there were no safeguards for the public or for the other shareholders.[1]
Sehnaoui
From 2018 the SGBL group of Antoun Sehnaoui became one of the principal shareholders. Lebanese reports in 2026 said Sehnaoui had sought greater influence over the company. The size of the holding is disputed. The New Arab described him as one of the largest shareholders, and noted that the scrutiny came days after a search and investigation notice over his Washington dinner with Benjamin Netanyahu. Al-Akhbar, in the reporting that accompanied the ban on sales in the occupied south, said a large shareholder could sell property stakes in Solidere to companies registered in the names of people holding a foreign nationality alongside an Israeli one. The paper presented this as a possibility; no such transfer has been published. See Lebanese draft law banning property sales in occupied areas (2026).[1][3]
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The New Arab, Lebanon debates Solidere's future as Beirut considers extension The New Arab, 6 August 2026, accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ Observatoire du journalisme, Antoun Sehnaoui, magnat iconoclaste de la presse libanaise OJIM, 26 May 2026, accessed 22 October 2026 (in French).
- ↑ Al-Akhbar, لماذا مُنعت البيوع العقارية على الحدود؟ وثيقة أمنية فرنسية تشرح تاريخ التغلغل اليهودي (Why were property sales on the border banned? A French security document explains the history of Jewish penetration) Al-Akhbar, 3 October 2026, accessed 22 October 2026 (in Arabic; Hezbollah-aligned).