Consolidated Contractors Company

ABOUT THE CO-FOUNDERS

Hasib Sabbagh was born in 1920 in Safad, Palestine, into a distinguished Christian family.^[8] He grew up in an entrepreneurial family that owned a fishery business. When Hasib was 13 years old, his father passed away.^[9] Hasib continued his schooling at the Arab College in Jerusalem, completing high school in 1938.^[10] He then headed to Lebanon, obtaining an undergraduate degree in civil engineering at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 1941.^[11] Shortly after, Hasib returned to Palestine, seeking work in construction.^[12]

Said Khoury too was born in Safad in 1923 into a well-off family. Similarly, he obtained an undergraduate degree in engineering from the American University of Beirut.^[13] After graduating, he returned to his hometown to set up an independent engineering office.^[14]  In 1954,^[15] Said married Wadad Sabbagh, Hasib’s sister, who had graduated from Beirut College for Women (now known as Lebanese American University) the previous year.^{[16] [17]} The couple had three sons — Wael, Samer, and Toufic — and two daughters: Salwa and Taima.^{[18] [19] [20]}

FOUNDING STORY

In the early 1940s, Hasib, unsatisfied with the job offers he was receiving, decided that entrepreneurship was the best course of action. He borrowed $1,000 from his uncle, and used the money to set up his own office in Haifa.^[21] Hasib and his brother-in-law Said got in touch with Kamel Abdul-Rahman, a friend they had met at AUB during their studies. Kamel, an economist, had co-founded CAT Constructing Company a few years prior, and was successfully handling projects for the Iraq Petroleum Company in Palestine.^[22] Together with another contractor, by 1945 they had established the Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) in Haifa.^{[23] [24]}

The battle of Haifa in April 1948 led to a panicked mass evacuation of the city.^[25] Hasib decided to return to his hometown of Safad, a journey that was possible only via Beirut. Two weeks after arriving in Beirut, Hasib was able to enter Safad, only to discover that the city had fallen and thousands of families, including his own, had been evacuated. Left no safe option, he settled in Beirut with his family.^[26] There, in 1952, Hasib reestablished the CCC with Said Khoury and Kamel Abdul-Rahman.^{[27] [28]} In 1959, Hasib married Diana Tamari, and together they had three children: Sana, Suhail, and Samir.^[29]

GROWTH PHASE

In 1952, the CCC secured its first major contract with a Bechtel-Wimpey joint venture in Aden to build a refinery and workers’ camp. The following year, the company expanded its reach as it secured projects in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar.^[30] In the 1960s, the steadily growing company became involved in major road projects and civil engineering for power stations and oil and gas facilities.^[31]

In 1975, the CCC relocated its headquarters to Athens due to the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war, which temporarily shut down the airport. Hasib and his family went to Athens as well, while Said settled in Kuwait and Abdul Rahman worked from Cannes, France.^[32] A year later, Kamel decided to retire and sold his shares to Sabbagh and Khoury.^{[33] [34]}

The CCC underwent restructuring in the 1980s as Fawzi Kawash, a Safad-born AUB graduate whom the co-founders met earlier in their lives,^[35] became the executive vice-president. Under his leadership, the company expanded into Europe, the United States, and Asia.^[36] While the CCC’s regional operations were severely hindered by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the company was nonetheless able to win its first contracts in Yemen and Egypt, where it constructed roads, sewage systems, electricity grids, and housing for the Egyptian army.^[37]

During the 2000s, the company expanded its operations into still more new regions, including Australia and Papua New Guinea, and took on increasingly prominent construction projects.^[38] The Dubai Mall, a joint venture between CCC and Dutco Balfour Beatty, was completed in 2009.^[39] Hasib Sabbagh died the next year after a prolonged illness,^[40] having served as chairman until 2005.^[41] Samer Khoury, Said’s son, became the CEO of the company.^[42] In 2014, Said Khoury passed away, and Samer’s brother Wael took over as the head of the CCC operations in Athens.^[43]

TODAY

Today, the Consolidated Contractors Company is one of the largest Arab international construction companies,^[44] ranking among the top 25 international contractors. Maintaining a global presence, it has offices in over 40 countries,^[45] and oversees more than 40 branches, subsidiaries, and associated firms.^[46] The CCC is under the management of the second generation of both founding families, with Samer Khoury continuing to serve as chairman. Wael Khoury, Salwa Khoury, and Suheil Sabbagh sit on the board, and the latter is also president of the Human Resources Group.