UAE conglomerate to take legal action against Lebanon over $1.7B investment losses

A conglomerate based in the United Arab Emirates says it will take legal action against Lebanese authorities over a dispute regarding its investments in the crisis-hit country, saying it has suffered $1.7 billion in investment losses.

The Dubai-based Al Habtoor Group’s businesses in Lebanon were hit hard by the country’s historic economic meltdown that began in late 2019. The country also suffered from the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war, for which the World Bank estimates the costs of reconstruction and recovery at $11 billion.

Lebanon’s economic meltdown, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the country’s ruling class, deprived people and businesses in the country from accessing their money stuck in the banking sector.

Al Habtoor Group runs, among other things, a hotel in a Beirut suburb as well as Habtoor Land, a giant theme park east of the Lebanese capital. Last year, Al Habtoor Group said it had reversed plans to dismantle the Metropolitan Palace Hotel.

Al Habtoor Group says that in recent years, its investments “have suffered severe and sustained harm” as a direct result of measures and restrictions imposed by Lebanese authorities and the central bank of Lebanon that prevented the Group from “freely accessing and transferring lawfully deposited funds held in Lebanese banks.”

It said that the situation was compounded by the prolonged political, economic, financial and social crises facing Lebanon and the country’s failure to ensure a stable and secure environment for operations and investments. It said damages and losses to the Group’s assets and properties in Lebanon exceed $1.7 billion.