Home Business Q&A: Nasser Chamaa


Q&A: Nasser Chamaa

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Solidere has launched a new program thought to bring many changes to your business. What is the program’s core offering?

The program is based on settling part of the price of real estate transactions through shares at a time when we have noticed a major pickup in interest in developing downtown projects.

What motivated you to create this program?

What started us thinking about this program was the realization that the share price cannot stay where it is, because it is significantly undervalued. We have to do something to try to make people and shareholders realize that there is much more value in the company stock.

In launching the program, you mentioned that the Solidere share price is undervalued. Where do you see the fair value?

We estimate that the land bank that we own is worth $ 4.5 billion. That is excluding the properties that have been developed, which we value at $300 million. This will increase immediately when the Souks are completed, bringing the value of the buildings that the company owns to about $800 million. So I think if you do the numbers, the shares are definitely undervalued.

Seven years ago, the most optimistic estimates by international finance houses saw Solidere shares going up to $18 or $20. Now we are happy to be at $7 per share. We are not happy to be at seven.

What number would make you happy?

I will not comment, but as the value of this land bank appreciates the share price appreciates. The other element is payment of dividends. This is a key component of our program, that we will request the cancellation of the shares, which we will acquire. Then whoever is left as shareholder in the company will own a bigger portion.

How long ago did you begin preparation for this program?

It has taken us some time but I think what is important is that this program is coming at a time when there is significant interest in development in the BCD.

Are you saying timing is everything?

Timing and the circumstances. The other beautiful part of this program is that it doesn’t have a drain on our cash situation. It is basically a buy-back program. We are buying back shares but without having to shell out cash and instead giving land.

Did you develop this all in-house or did you use outside consultants?

We consulted with different individuals but in the end these ideas really came from within.

Do you have grounds outside of the new program on which to base your optimism?

Beirut is a city that definitely is in fashion. I talked to international retailers who see that point very well and are able to gauge that through their global activities. They see that Arabs are now looking inwards and Beirut is a spot where they want to be. The Lebanese diaspora is also looking to invest in Lebanon.

Two years ago, you started on an upward curve. Is it correct that the company had a good year in 2003 but showed lower results because it did not want to record sales on its books before they were fully registered?

No, we had cancellations related to shareholders in Bank Al Madina. These were the transactions that had this negative impact on our income statement. Otherwise we would have had probably as good a year as the previous year.

Is the new program and special offer valid at this moment?

Yes, from the day that we declared it and it is already being practiced. But it has yet to result in sales. That is not the case. We have several contracts in different phases of execution. Some were prior to this offer. There are stages of signature, final stages of fine-tuning the contract, but as far as I am concerned, these are sales that are behind us. We are negotiating with a major investor on a huge lot, but this story is at a stage where we cannot yet make an announcement.

Are you in effect reducing the price of land that you sell in Solidere?

To make this program work, we offer a discount of 15% from the list price. We review our prices every six months, and have been moving them up all the time, and this will continue. Pricing the land is another mechanism that has to do with many other factors. We will not change that. What we have always done when we price land is that we stick to it to make sure that people who have invested are somehow protected.

How much did prices go up since Solidere started to market properties?

We started selling initially at $950 [per square meter of built-up area/BUA] and we had a transaction for a hotel that was at slightly less than $950. But since then we have gone up to $1,550. This was the price for a superb piece of land that sits right on the edge of the Marina. I will not be surprised when we are selling some similar properties with commanding views at $1700 or $1800 in two years’ time.

But is it a fact that with the current offer, prices for the buyer have gone down for the first time since the company was established?

No. We have made deals on a cash basis where we applied discounts. While this is not a cash deal, mind you, we are getting 40% payment in shares upfront. We were always getting 25%. This is already a plus. We are getting more money upfront. And we are getting the rest of our money more quickly, three years instead of five years. So this discount is not a giveaway. It has economic bases.

Thus, the 15 % discount would be compensated by a decrease in exposure of the debt over two years and at the same time by the price of shares?

Not by the price of shares. We are acquiring a larger down payment at 40%, which could be 40% in shares or 30% in shares and 10% in cash, instead of 25%. But I tell you something that nobody has noticed yet. This program will have a positive impact on our retained earnings, up to a certain point. As long as we acquire the shares at less than [the nominal issue value of] $10 and we are canceling them at $10, there is another positive impact for the shareholder but not for the real estate investor.

How much could an investor gain in a best-case scenario if he bought shares when they stood at $4 or $5 and used them now for the offer?

This depends on several factors, at what price you bought your shares, how long you have held them, what is your borrowing cost. But if you buy shares today and your borrowing cost is very low and you wait on these shares and then execute the program, these shares will probably be at a higher price a year from now and you will even get another benefit. You get a bonus of 10% on the price of your shares and you get a 15% discount on the land. The program is also telling you as a shareholder that your shares are dearer to you now. You should hold your shares and not accept to sell them at these lower levels.

Is the offer open ended?

We have no time limit on it today but it is an offer that we will have to keep assessing as time goes by.

Is the offer giving a certain edge to large investors and large shareholders over small ones?

No, not at all. It is probably giving more edge to the small shareholders. Large shareholders have held on to their shares. The small shareholders have been panicking when their share prices have been going down. I think today they have no reason to panic. They are in a position to feel that the company is backing their shares.

Can you ensure that no information on your new program was leaked, to people who had already been negotiating with the company over buying a property?

We have our internal procedures to make sure that this is the case and I hope they work.

How would you respond to concerns that this city is a place where insider trading and conflicts of interest between ownership and management are common?

I believe our internal procedures are working as far as confidentiality and as far as transparency. We have shareholders all over the world. We have to ensure that we are not only playing by the rules in this country but by global standards.

What about allegations reported by some Beirut media about controversies in your general assembly on June 21?

We answered that. The auditors obviously never said anything [of the sort which was reported]. No shareholders, including those who stood up and screamed for other reasons, said such things in the assembly. Where did this reporter come up with those allegations? We have no idea. In fact the owner of the newspaper also doesn’t know where these allegations came from.

Can you comment on expressions of discontent at your general assembly?

You have to evaluate this discontent. If it is coming from a shareholder who is concerned about the interest of the company, I definitely take it seriously, but if it is criticism coming from troublemakers or people who have disputes with the company, this is negative for the other shareholders who have real concerns and [who risk] not having these concerns heard.

Could you give examples for real concerns?

There are many concerns that shareholders can voice and they do voice them. One of the concerns is why we aren’t paying dividends. This is a catch-22 situation; if we pay dividends we will not have enough cash to move ahead with the development process. If we pay dividends, some shareholders will be happy because it is an immediate benefit but in a way it will be taken away from future potential benefits.

In the long term, where do you see Solidere obtaining revenues?

From property management. Key to that are the Souks. Are local retailers getting twitchy over the delays and planting their flags elsewhere?

I am not concerned that this will happen. In fact, we have every indication that retailers understand the importance of this location very well. I would have liked to have completed this project by now, but we are about to start now, within the next couple of weeks. So within the next 18 months, we will have it up.

What do you say to developers who say the price of land makes it almost impossible for them to make money?

I tell them there are others who do and continue to come and buy land. This is what is happening. I am sure that also in Saifi and other non-waterfront residential areas, projects are making money.

And developers who are buying land at $1200 BUA and have to sell at roughly $3,000, can achieve that now?

Absolutely.

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