Michel Daher

Michel Georges Daher (Arabic: ميشال ضاهر‎; born 7 March 1961) is a Lebanese entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist and politician who is the founder of Daher Capital and Daher Foods.[1] As of May 2018, he was elected as a Member of Parliament in Lebanon for the Zahle district.[2]

Michel Daher
ميشال ضاهر
Born
Michel Georges Daher

7 March 1961 (1961-03-07) (age 59)
Ferzol, Lebanon
NationalityLebanese
OccupationChairman and CEO
Known forDaher Foods, Daher Capital, Parliament of Lebanon
Spouse(s)Marleine Sayde
ChildrenGeorges, Mark, Edwina, Perla

Early life

Daher grew up in Ferzol, Lebanon, where his father was a farmer. He is the eldest of six brothers and sisters. Michel married Marleine Sayde in 1986 and together they have four children, George, Mark, Edwina and Perla.

Daher Foods

Michel Daher founded Daher Foods in 1992, one of the largest FMCG companies in the MENA region. Daher Foods operates one of the largest salty snacks operations in the Middle East.[3]

In 2016, Daher Foods started producing packaged nuts and kernels in a brand new production facility.[4]

In 2019, Daher Foods added biscuits and wafers to its portfolio of products in a brand new production facility.[5]

Daher Capital

Daher founded Daher Capital, a privately owned family investment office. Daher Capital invests in developed public market equities, emerging markets equities, private equity and venture capital.

Some of Daher Capital's publicly known investments include FXCM, where in 2007, Daher Capital joined forces with Lehman Brothers and Yale University to purchase a 35% stake.[6] FXCM went public on the NYSE in December 2010 with a market capitalization of $1.6 billion,[7] a process in which Daher had an active role in.[8] In 2013, Daher sold his FXCM stake and invested in rival Gain Capital.[9]

In 2013, Daher purchased a large stake in the largest poultry producer in the US,[10] Pilgrim's Pride and became the company's second largest shareholder.[11] In 2013, Pilgrim's Pride had revenues of $9.0 billion.[12]

Daher Capital is also known to be a very active Venture Capital investor. In 2017, Daher Capital was recognized as "one of the biggest supporters of Los Angeles tech companies behind the scenes" by the LA Times.[13]

Some of Daher Capital's known VC investments include Maker Studios prior to its sale to Disney for $1 billion,[14][15] in Bonds.com prior to its sale to the London Stock Exchange,[16][17] and Burstly, developer of TestFlight, prior to its sale to Apple.[18] In April 2019, Daher Capital worked with BridgePoint Advisers to acquire Kyriba in a deal valuing the company at $1.2 billion.[19]

Other companies that Daher invested in that went public include TrueCar[20][21] and Stonegate Mortgage.[22]

Political career

Michel Daher expressed concerns on Lebanon's economic model as early as 2012 saying "unless the government embarks on painful austerity measures, Lebanon’s economy will inch closer to the edge of a disaster" in a DailyStar interview at the time.[23]

In 2018,  Michel Daher ran for parliament on an economic reform agenda looking to decrease Lebanon's reliance on diaspora remittances and increase the country's productivity,[24] believing the current model was not sustainable.[25]

In May 2018, Michel Daher was elected as an independent to Lebanon's parliament in the Zahle district, one of Lebanon's most contested and competitive areas in parliamentary elections. Daher ran against political dynasties and won by a wide margin.[2] Upon his election, Daher vowed to transfer all salaries and benefits from the state that come during his tenure to the Lebanese Army.[26]

Daher's political positions have revolved around Lebanon's economy, warning against an impending economic collapse if the political establishment did not effect reforms. Lebanon's economy collapsed in October 2019 due to its heavy debt, corruption, reliance on remittances and the banking sector, and lack of productivity.[27]

To mitigate the full effects of the economic collapse, in November 2019 Daher submitted a Capital Control law to parliament as well as the abolishing of Banking Secrecy laws in order to return stolen public funds, both of which were rejected by the existing political establishment.[28]

Daher also serves as a board member of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists (ALI)[29] and is on the Executive Committee of Higher Council for Greek Catholics in Lebanon.

References
  1. "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2020-07-13. Cite uses generic title (help)
  2. "Breakdown of Lebanon's new parliament - Georgi Azar". An-Nahar. 2018-05-09. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  3. "Master Chips factory to open this January". BusinessNews.com.lb. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  4. "Nuts and kernels factory by Daher Foods". BusinessNews.com.lb. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  5. "Daher Food group". Berytech. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  6. "Michel Daher sonne la cloche d'ouverture de la Bourse de New York - B.B." Commerce du Levant (in French). 2010-12-03. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  7. "FXCM's IPO Raises $211 Million at Midpoint of Range - BusinessWeek". 2010-12-04. Archived from the original on 2010-12-04. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  8. "Lebanese industrialist and businessman Michel Daher given the honor o…". archive.is. 2013-02-10. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  9. "Gain Capital sees Lebanese businessman Michel Daher begin to cash out of his GCAP position". LeapRate.com. January 30, 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-11-11. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  10. Bunge, Jacob (2015-04-20). "Pilgrim's Expects 25% of Its Chicken Will Be Antibiotic-Free by 2019". WSJ. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  11. "PILGRIMS PRIDE CORP : Filed by MASTER GLOBAL ASSETS LTD : FORM SC 13G (Statement of Ownership)" (PDF). Files.shareholder.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  12. "Revenue, EPS, & Dividend - Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (PPC)". NASDAQ.com. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  13. "How a potato chip entrepreneur in Lebanon became a big supporter of L.A. tech start-ups". Los Angeles Times. 2017-09-06. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  14. "Maker Studios Raises Another $26 Million From Canal+, Singtel, And Others To Grow Its Business Overseas". TechCrunch. 2013-09-12. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  15. "Deal of the Year: Disney's Nearly $1B Acquisition of Maker Studios". The Hollywood Reporter. 2014-12-17. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  16. Burne, Katy (2014-03-06). "London Stock Exchange's MTS to Buy Bonds.com". WSJ. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  17. "Michel Daher Makes Strategic Investment in Bonds.com". Prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  18. "Apple Acquires Burstly, A Daher Capital Company". Blog Baladi. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  19. "Kyriba Closes $160 Million Growth Round Led by Bridgepoint to Fuel Enterprise Platform Innovation and Global Expansion". Kyriba. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  20. "Our Team". TRUECar. Archived from the original on 2012-11-29. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  21. "TrueCar raises $70 million in initial public offering". Fortune.com. 2014-05-16. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  22. "Stonegate Mortgage IPO raises $180M". Kansas City Business Journal. October 10, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-10-13. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  23. "Daher: Keeping faith in the country's future- interview | Business , Local | THE DAILY STAR". www.dailystar.com.lb. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  24. Agency, National News. "Daher: To turn our economy into a productive sector". National News Agency. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  25. "Rethinking the role of remittances inflows in the Lebanese Economy". Beirut Today. 2019-10-07. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  26. "Newly Elected MP Michel Daher Vows To Transfer Salary/ Benefits to the Lebanese Army". Blog Baladi. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  27. Hubbard, Ben (2020-05-10). "Lebanon's Economic Crisis Explodes, Threatening Decades of Prosperity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  28. Agency, National News. "Daher: For an in-depth discussion of the Capital Control Law in Parliament". National News Agency. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  29. "Board of Directors". Association of lebanese Industrialists. Archived from the original on 2010-05-11. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
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