There are a few points that thirty-six year old real estate developer and entrepreneur Karim Bassil wants to make perfectly clear to any reporter interested in untangling his rapidly growing business interests. First, contrary to some press reports, the general contracting company La Constructa that Bassil began with partner Walid Marchi a few years ago, is but one element in a vertically integrated group of firms that services both his own development projects as well as those of other clients. So although there is no overall holding company as yet, Bassil Real Estate Investment (BREI), not La Constructa, is more or less de facto company leader, given its role as advisor and manager on several ongoing projects. Second, although he’s been the driving force behind the various related companies (which now number six according to his most recent business card), Bassil is insistent that he is “a very, very bad
