By Howard
Shakespeare
Copyright ã International Bond & Share
Society 2001
Until the
closing years of the 19th century, Egypt scarcely had an economy in
the modern sense. Government was ineffectual and corrupt. The legal, fiscal and
financial systems were inefficient and not at all conducive to the development
of commercial companies. The American Civil War caused the price of cotton to
boom, but this fell sharply again after 1865. To pull Egypt out of stagnation,
an International Commission of Enquiry published a report in 1878; this led to
political, administrative and fiscal reforms, but also to an insurrection, in
1882. The result was an Anglo-Egyptian administration, which worked hard to
create the right conditions for the agricultural sector to reach its enormous
potential. Irrigation
and flood-control works were carried out, and success came quickly.
Belgian as well as British companies were attracted by the possibilities of
business in Egypt. We give below the main Belgian companies, active in 1907.
Many of them are well-known to us scripophilists today. We list the
certificates known.
Formed in Antwerp in 1897, with a capital of F5,000,000 in shares of F500. This was raised in 1902 to F7,500,000, in 1904 to F10,000,000 and in 1906 to 12,500,000, all in shares of F500. It also made various issues of bonds, including one, unusually, in Dutch guilders. The company was one of the largest landowners in Egypt; its policy was to buy up neglected or abandoned land with good potential, very cheaply, and then to spend the money that was necessary to bring it into full production. Its land was in the Nile Delta, towards Alexandria, and its prime product was cotton.
Known :
-
Action
de F500 – capital F5.000.000
-
Action
de F500 – capital F10.000.000
-
Part
de Dividende, 1897.
S.A. The Gharbieh Land Co.
Formed in Cairo in 1905, with capital of L.E.
4,000,000 in shares of L.E. 4, mostly
placed in Belgium. The company’s property was, as the name suggests, in
Gharbieh province, and produced mainly rice. The paper seen, including Parts de
Fondateur, mostly dates from 1944, and it seems that all Parts and shares were
reissued I that year, perhaps on account of the war.
Known :
-
1
Deffered Share, 1906, overstamped 1923
-
1 Part
de Fondateur, 1944
-
5
Parts de Fondateur, 1944
-
25
Parts de Fondateur, 1944
-
5
Actions, 1944.
Formed in Antwerp in 1903, with a capital of
F5,000,000, doubled in 1906 to F10,000,000, in shares of F500. There were 1500
Parts Bénéficiaires, which were divided into 1/10ths in 1910. The paper seen
all dates from 1942, and it seems all Parts and shares were reissued in 1943,
perhaps on account of the war. The company policy was to finance the large –
and medium – size farmers, against a mortgage of their land.
Known :
-
Action
de Capital, 1942 (specimen)
-
1/10
Part bénéficiaire, 1942 (specimen)
Formed in Antwerp in 1905, with a capital of
F12,500,000, quickly raised to F15,000,000, then to F25,000,000, in shares of
F250. There were also 7500 parts de fondateur. The company was essentially a
Cairo bank.
Known :
-
1/10
Part de Fondateur, 1905 & 1907.
Formed in Brussels in 1899, with a capital of
F3,000,000, in privileged shares of F500 ; there were also 6000 ordinary
shares of no par value. In 1905 the capital rose to F4,000,000, and a further
2000 ordinary shares were created. The company was established to acquire land
in the elegant Ezbékieh district of Cairo, behind the famous Shepherd’s Hotel,
and build high-quality residential property on it.
Known :
-
Action
Ordinaire, 1939
-
Action
Privilégiée, 1899 (specimen)
-
Action
Privilégiée Remboursée, 1939
-
Obligation,
1905 (seen issued and specimen)
-
Obligation,
1909 (seen issued and specimen).
Formed in Cairo in 1896, with a capital of
F3,500,000 (raised in 1900 to F4,500,000) in shares of F500. There were also
14,000 actions de dividende of no par value. The company had only one line, but
an important one – from Mansourah to Matarieh. The importance lay in the fact
that Mansourah was the eastern Delta terminus of the state railways, and
Matarieh is on Lake Menzaleh, on the far side of which is Port Said, second
port of Egypt and entrance to the Suez Canal. Also, Mansourah is the heart of
one of the main cotton-growing areas of Egypt. Baron Eduard Empain and his
brother Baron François Empain were directors of this company.
Known :
-
Action
Privilégiée, 1896
-
Action
de Dividende, 1896
-
Action
Privilégiée, 1903
-
Action
de Jouissance, 1904
-
Action
Privilégiée, 1912
-
Obligation,
1934 (grey, black)
-
Obligation,
1934 (green, black)
-
Obligation,
1934 (blue, black)
-
Obligation,
1934 (brown, rose, black).
Formed in Cairo in 1906, with Capital of
F15,000,000 (in 1907 raised to F30,000,000 and in 1920 to F52,625,000) in
shares of F250. There were also 60,000 Actions de Dividende of no par value,
and an issue of Obligations to a value of F3,750,000.
The company is included under railways on
account of its name, but was primarily a property development company. The company
acquired a very large area (25 square kilometers) north-east of Cairo, where
the ancient city of Heliopolis existed, and where the international airport is
today. It built, in effect, a new city – called the Heliopolis Oasis – and rail
and tramway links to the centre of Cairo. Not only did the company build a
great number of houses and apartments, but also a hotel (The Heliopolis Palace
Hotel), restaurants, shops, churches, mosque, hospital, etc. On completion the
hotel was floated off as a separate company.
Known :
-
Action,
1906
-
Action
de Dividende, 1906
-
Action,
1911
-
Action,
1920.
Heliopolis Palace Hotel du Caire S.A.
Formed in Brussels in 1909, with a capital of
F4,000,000 in shares of F250. There were also 17,000 actions de dividende of no
par value. The company acquired and operated the hotel, which had no less than
400 rooms, and had a very high standard of luxury. The hotel is still there
today, and is well-known to visitors to Cairo, since it is right beside the
main road from the airport into the City.
Known :
-
Action
de Dividende, 1909.
Formed in Brussels in 1895, with a capital of
F4,000,000 (later F10,000,000 and F15,000,000) in actions privilégiées of F500.
There were also 80,000 parts de jouissance (founder’s shares) of no par value,
and an issue of 20,000 bonds of F500. The two Barons Empain were among the
directors.
In 1926 the actions privilégiées and the parts
de jouissance were amalgamated into 270,000 parts sociales of no par value, and
in 1927 the number was doubled to 540,000, the capital then being F54,000,000.
The company operated a network of electric
services around the city of Cairo, and in 1899 opened a separate line on the
left bank of the nile, out to the Pyramids. It is amusing to read in the report
that the Pyramids line would not reach its profits potential until it was
directly linked with the city network on the right bank of the Nile. At the
time, the Kasr-el-Nil bridge was, on certain days and at certain times,
scarcely able to cope with the quantities of pedestrians, carriages,
horse-riders, carts, herds of cattle, flocks of sheep and goats, and peasants
carrying their produce into the city on camel and donkey, and it would have to
be widened before trams could use it.
Known :
-
Part
Sociale, 1926
-
Part
Sociale, 1927.
Formed in Brussels in 1897, with a capital of F3.000.000 (raised in 1898 to
F6,000,000 in 1899 to F8,000,000 and in 1908 to F10,266,000) in Actions
Privilégiées of F100. There were also 30,000 (later 33,000) Actions de
Dividende of no par value and an issue of 16,000 Obligations of F100. The
majority of the shares were issued to the French Compagnie Générale de
Traction, who obtained the original concession from the city of Alexandria.
Apart from a network of tramways in the city of Alexandria, the company also
acquired most of the shares in a British Company, the Alexandria & Ramleh
Railway Co. Ltd, which operated a line through the richest and most elegant
suburban area of the city. This explains why the attractive Alexandria &
Ramleh shares are quite difficult to find today.
Known :
-
Action
Privilégiée, 1897
- Action de Dividende, 1899 (seen issued & specimen)
- Action Privilégiée, 1899 (seen issued & specimen)
- Action Privilégiée, 1909 (seen issued & specimen)
-
Obligation,
1899.
This company operated the sleeping– and dining-cars on the Cairo/Luxor
and Cairo/Port Said lines. The Cairo/Luxor service is well-known to tourists
today, offering a very comfortable way of reaching the sights of Upper Egypt,
although these days is operated by the Egyptian State Railways.
Note : We can
perhaps mention also the Anglo-Belgian Company of Egypt, formed in London in
1905, which had some Belgian capital. Its president, who usually signed the
shares, was Baron Georges de Reuter, of News Agency fame. The company was
formed to acquire 4/5 of the capital of the Fayoum Light Railways Co., and
purchased, for development, various pieces of land in prestigious parts of
Cairo.
* This article is based on a report written in 1907, so does not give
later detail, although we have updated it where possible.
Copyright ã INTERNATIONAL BOND & SHARE
SOCIETY 2001
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