The Grand Serail of Beirut. (Credit: PHB/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — In recent months, Lebanon has seen a succession of delegations of foreign businesspeople, particularly around the Beirut One conference in November.But behind the handshakes and speeches, many of these visitors were not here to finance projects. Their focus was elsewhere.“Aside from Lebanese diaspora and companies that already have a presence in Lebanon, the real foreign investor presence was quite thin and included a large group of fund managers interested in buying and selling Lebanese government eurobond, rather than investing in infrastructure and other large projects,” said Mike Azar, Senior Vice President at debt advisory firm Greengate LLC.“Many international Eurobond holders from dozens of global institutions visited Beirut during the conference,” said former managing director at global funds and banks Saeb al-Zein.Each...
BEIRUT — In recent months, Lebanon has seen a succession of delegations of foreign businesspeople, particularly around the Beirut One conference in November.But behind the handshakes and speeches, many of these visitors were not here to finance projects. Their focus was elsewhere.“Aside from Lebanese diaspora and companies that already have a presence in Lebanon, the real foreign investor presence was quite thin and included a large group of fund managers interested in buying and selling Lebanese government eurobond, rather than investing in infrastructure and other large projects,” said Mike Azar, Senior Vice President at debt advisory firm Greengate LLC.“Many international Eurobond holders from dozens of global institutions visited Beirut during the conference,” said former managing director at global funds and banks Saeb...
Israel kills 2 in southern Lebanon, shattering 3 days of relative calm