Dubai-based conglomerate Al Habtoor Group has confirmed it’ll shut all of its operations in Lebanon resulting from extended political and financial instability, mounting monetary losses and an ongoing authorized dispute with the Lebanese authorities.
In an announcement issued on Wednesday, the Group stated the choice adopted a “complete inside overview” and got here towards the backdrop of “ongoing hostile campaigns, public assaults, and defamatory actions” directed on the firm, alongside broader authorized proceedings with the Lebanese state.
The transfer marks the tip of a 25-year presence in Lebanon for the UAE-based group, which first entered the market in 2001 with the opening of its first lodge.
“Regardless of more and more difficult circumstances, the Group has sought to protect its operations, shield its staff, and safeguard its investments,” Al Habtoor Group stated. “Nonetheless, the cumulative influence of those components has rendered the continuation of operations unsustainable at the moment.”
Closure impacts the total workforce
The closure will embrace the entire Group’s actions within the nation, together with its resorts, and can consequence within the termination of all staff. The corporate stated the choice was taken to halt ongoing monetary losses and to guard its authorized and industrial pursuits.
The announcement follows earlier warnings from the Group that it was contemplating authorized motion towards Lebanon over losses estimated at $1.7 billion, linked to what it has described as state failure, institutional paralysis and the absence of primary investor protections.
Al Habtoor Group stated it had continued working by way of years of battle, political upheaval and financial collapse, absorbing substantial monetary and operational prices whereas persevering with to fulfill its obligations to workers. It described its presence in Lebanon as guided by “partnership and duty, reasonably than short-term revenue”, including that it had handled the interval as a humanitarian dedication as a lot as a industrial one.
“That strategy, nevertheless, is not viable,” the assertion stated, pointing to deteriorating circumstances, persistent institutional failure and the shortage of significant structural reforms.
The Group stated the closures kind a part of broader authorized and operational measures being taken as a part of the continuing dispute with the Lebanese authorities, and confirmed it will proceed to pursue all accessible authorized avenues underneath worldwide agreements and relevant authorized frameworks.
Al Habtoor Group, based in 1970 by Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, is among the UAE’s largest conglomerates, with pursuits spanning hospitality, actual property, automotive and schooling throughout the Center East and internationally.
