General Aspects
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, financial crisis forced Isma'il to sell his shares to the British Government for only £3,976,582.
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.
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.
Read more about this topic: Suez Canal Company
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