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Participating certificate of the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez, issued 1. January 1889

Postcard depicting the Suez Canal Company headquarters

The Universal Maritime Suez Canal Company (French: Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez, or simply Compagnie de Suez for short) was the corporation that constructed the Suez Canal between 1859 and 1869 and operated it until the 1956 Suez Crisis. It was formed by Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1858, and it owned and operated the canal for many years thereafter. Initially, French private investors were the majority of the shareholders, with Egypt also having a significant stake.

When Isma'il Pasha became Wāli of Egypt and Sudan in 1863, he refused to adhere to the concessions to the Canal company made by his predecessor Said. The problem was referred during 1864 to the arbitration of Napoleon III, who awarded £3,800,000 to the company as compensation for the losses they would incur by the changes to the original grant which Ismail demanded. During 1875, a financial crisis forced Isma'il to sell his shares to the British Government for only £3,976,582.^[1]

The company operated the canal until its nationalization by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1956, which led to the Suez Crisis. In 1962, Egypt made its final payments for the canal to the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company and took full control of the Suez Canal.^[2] Today the canal is owned and operated by the Suez Canal Authority.

In 1997, the company merged with Lyonnaise des Eaux to form Suez S.A., which was later merged with Gaz de France on 22 July 2008 to form GDF Suez.^[3], which became known as Engie in April, 2015.

Disputes

In 1938, Benito Mussolini demanded that Italy have a sphere of influence in the Suez Canal, specifically demanding that an Italian representative be placed on the company's board of directors.^[4] Italy opposed the French monopoly over the Suez Canal because under French domination of the company all Italian merchant traffic to its colony of Italian East Africa was forced to pay tolls upon entering the canal.^[4]

On 26 July 1956, the Egyptian government announced it intended to nationalize the Suez Company, owned by the French and the British, and also closed the canal to all Israeli shipping. This resulted in the Suez Crisis.

Presidents of the Suez Canal Company (1855-1956)

Before nationalisation:

• 
  Ferdinand De Lesseps, (1855 – 7 December 1894)


• 
  Jules Guichard (17 December 1892 – 17 July 1896) (acting for de Lesseps to 7 December 1894)


• 
  Auguste-Louis-Albéric, prince d'Arenberg (3 August 1896 – 1913)


• 
  Charles Jonnart (19 May 1913 – 1927)


• 
  Louis de Vogüé (4 April 1927 – 1 March 1948)


• 
  François Charles-Roux (4 April 1948 – 26 July 1956)

Administrator of the Suez Canal Company

• 
  Marie Gabriel Adolphe Peghoux^[5]<ref>

See also

• Suez S.A.


• GDF Suez


• Suez Environnement

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Suez Canal Company.

• 
  Statutes of the Company on Google Books, in French


• English translation of the Statutes


• Suez corporate web site


• Sir John Stokes' view of the British acquisition of 40%