Concept

Société des bains de mer de Monaco

Summary
The Société des Bains de Mer (SBM; Society of Sea Baths), officially the Société Anonyme des Bains de Mer et du Cercle des Etrangers à Monaco (sɔsjete de bɛ̃ d(ə) mɛʁ e dy sɛʁkl(ə) dez‿etʁɑ̃ʒez‿a mɔnako; Society of Sea Baths and of the Circle of Foreigners in Monaco), is a publicly traded company registered in the Principality of Monaco. SBM owns and manages the Monte Carlo Casino, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo. SBM was founded on 2 April 1863 by a sovereign order issued by Charles III, Prince of Monaco. He ceded for 1.7 million gold francs to the businessman François Blanc for the privilege of exploiting the monopoly on gambling in the Principality of Monaco for 50 years. It initially consisted of a capital of eight million francs divided into 32,000 shares. After World War I, the casino in Monte Carlo was in trouble. The world had changed, particularly the world of money, and the Prince of Monaco, Louis II, believed the casino's aged owner, Camille Blanc, had lost touch. As the casino supplied the principality with revenue, he sought to replace Blanc and bring in fresh business management. For assistance, he approached Basil Zaharoff, an international financier and arms dealer who had long been a patron of the Côte d’Azur. Zaharoff managed to get hold of the shares and, with the aid of the Prince, shouldered Blanc out and became the casino's master. Zaharoff brought in fresh administration and the result paid huge dividends. In 1953, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis bought up the shares of SBM via the use of front companies in the tax haven of Panama and took control of the organisation, moving his headquarters into the Old Sporting Club on Monaco's Avenue d'Ostende shortly after. Onassis's takeover of the SBM was initially welcomed by Monaco's ruler, Prince Rainier III, as the country required investment, but Onassis and Rainier's relationship had deteriorated by 1962 in the wake of the boycott of Monaco by the French president, Charles de Gaulle.
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