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28 March 2024

Youngest son Wael takes over CCC after founder's death

Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) lost the last of its three founding fathers with the demise of the 91-year- old Said Khoury two weeks ago. (SUPPLIED)

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By Staff

Wael Khoury, the youngest scion, has taken over the mantle of Greece’s Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) after the company lost the last of its three founding fathers with the demise of the 91-years old Said Khoury two weeks ago.

But the death of the founder will not affect its projects and the performance as the foundations of ‘sound corporate governance’ of CCC and its leadership were established long time ago, according to a senior company executive.

“The passing away of Mr. Said Khoury will not affect the company performance and projects. The dean of construction has departed but CCC as a successful institution continues on," Dr. Saleh Jallad, Group Vice President for Treasury, Insurance and Government Relations at CCC, told Emirates 24l7.

He said Wa'el Khoury is a qualified civil engineer with a Masters Degree from George Washington University in DC in the USA.

“In addition to his accumulated wide experience in investments particularly in the oil and gas and mining operations, he has been an active member in the CCC Board for more than ten years. A year ago, he was elected as Chairperson under the tutelage of his late father; a rare and valuable opportunity," said Dr. Jallad adding that Wael has been working with the company for more than 15 years.

Besides the current post, Wael also serves as the Group President of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

“He has been effectively supported by his brothers each according to his accumulated experiences in CCC during a combined period of over 30 years of hard and successful track record,” Dr. Jallad noted.

 Wael – with his two brothers Tawfic, executive vice chairman, and Samer, president engineering and construction – started their professional careers as site engineers in various projects within the regions of the company operations, and rose through the ranks before they achieved their current management cadre.

Born in Safad (north of Palestine) in 1923, Said Khoury with an engineering degree from the American University of Beirut (AUB), emigrated with his family to nearby Lebanon as a result of the 1948 Israeli-Arab war. In 1952, he joined hands with his late cousin and brother in law Haseeb Sabbagh, and also the late Kamel Abdul Rahman, to establish CCC in Beirut.

Today, CCC ranks as the world’s 17th largest international construction contractors and the top firm in the Middle East, with over 130,000 employees under its management and operates in more than 40 countries, said the executive.

CCC records showed its revenue increased by nearly 20 percent in just three years from around $3.82 billion in 2010 to $4.58 billion in 2013. The revenue topped $6 billion in 2014 due to a surge in business in Mena and other areas.

The company is involved in more than 50 projects within the GCC, Africa, Australia, Kazakhstan and Southeast Asia.

In a mourning statement, the AUB noted that the late founder based his corporate policies on the welfare, satisfaction and participation of employees and that concern for personnel – from engineers to cooks – has driven the company through its history.

It said Khoury based his corporate policy on the welfare, satisfaction and participation of the employee and that concern for personnel – the family, the team, from engineers to cooks – has driven the company throughout its history.

In a TV interview before his death, Khoury who died in Athens and was buried in Beirut in a televised funeral, was asked if he had expected to build such a massive investment empire, which had turned him into one of the world’s richest persons, with an estimated wealth of over $6 billion.

“I had dreamt of achieving something. I had big hopes that I would succeed but I had never imagined that I would reach what I have got now,” he said.

In press comments in Lebanon, his son Samer said after his father’s death: “My father and uncle Haseeb have created a very special culture for CCC, based on modesty, perseverance, sincerity, affection, mercy and support of the poor, the sick and the needy.

"I confirm to you that we will always be committed to these principles.”