the Universal Company of the Maritime Canal of Suez. Creation and initial public offering In late Spring of 1858, the French Academy of Sciences released a public report approving of the engineering plans for the canal. The report noted that in the previous two decades, Europeans had spent 12 billion francs building railroads, and that at a cost of 200 million francs (or £8 million), the canal was affordable. Lesseps pushed ahead without formal British or Ottoman approval. In October 1858, Lesseps notified international press and company agents that 400,000 shares at a price of 500 francs each would be publicly offered beginning 5 November 1858. In the notification, Lesseps estimated an annual revenue of 30 million francs based on freight fees, and a construction period lasting 6 years. In preparation for the offering, shares were sent to brokerage houses across Europe and in the United States. At the close of offering on 30 November 1858, about half of the shares (around 200,000) belonged to French citizens with the next largest block owned by citizens of the Ottoman Empire (Said bought around 60,000). None of the shares reserved for Britain, Russia, Austria, or the United States were bought. Said purchased the remaining unbought shares (for a total of 177,000 shares) in order to ensure that the company reached its necessary capitalization amount (to become a legal entity as defined in the 1856 concession). The average number of shares bought by French investors amounted to nine shares each. Lesseps declared the company as being officially formed on 15 December 1858. Canal construction Prior to the existence of the Suez Canal, Port Said and Lake Timsah had few residents, the Great Bitter Lake was a dry basin, and drinking water was difficult to find. In addition to infrastructure challenges, Said would not allow the use of massive corvée labour until 1861, when Napoleon III publicly backed the canal project. In the meantime from 1859 to 1861, the company's Chief Engineer Eugène Mougel and its new superintendent Alphonse Hardon, planned for and built fresh water distilleries along the route, hauled in additional fresh water from the Nile, built housing for workers, gathered stone for the jetty, assembled some aging dredging equipment from the Nile, and looked for workers. Company town establishments arose along the route. In 1860, the company employed 210 Europeans and 544 Egyptians along 11 stations of the route. Employees were