The Suez Company or Suez Canal Company, full initial name Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez (Universal Company of the Maritime Canal of Suez), sometimes colloquially referred to in French as ("The Suez"), was a company formed by Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1858 to operate the concession of the Suez Canal, which the company built between 1859 and 1869. Initially, French investors held half of the Company's stock, with Egypt's ruler Sa'id Pasha holding most of the balance. In 1875, financial distress forced Sa'id's successor Isma'il Pasha to sell the country's shares to the government of the United Kingdom. The Suez Company operated the canal until Egypt's new president Gamal Abdel Nasser revoked its concession in 1956 and transferred canal operation to the state-owned Suez Canal Authority, precipitating the Suez Crisis. Following the loss of the canal concession, the Suez Company received financial compensation from the Egyptian government, the final payment of which was made in 1962, and used this resource to reinvent itself as a major investment and holding company in France. In 1958 it renamed itself the ("Suez Financial Company"), and in 1967 changed its name again to , a change that was reversed in 1972. It was nationalized in 1982, then privatized in 1987. It acquired control of the Société Générale de Belgique in 1988, and changed name again to in 1990. In 1997, it merged with water utility and construction conglomerate to form Suez-Lyonnaise des eaux. The merged entity renamed itself as Suez in 2001 and underwent several subsequent mergers, spin-offs, and restructurings that led to the creation of the energy company Engie and the water and waste-management utility also named Suez. Background Original canal concession (1854) The original concession assembled by Lesseps and granted by Said in 1854 included the following stipulations: 10 percent of the annual profits were reserved for the founders, 15 percent of the annual profits were reserved for the Government of Egypt, and 75 percent of the annual profits were reserved for shareholders. There was no stipulation dictating whether the route of the canal would be direct or indirect (from the Nile). The company was given the right to free quarries and import equipment tax-free. In that original concession, founding members of the Company were to receive 10 percent of the canal's profits. These members included François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour, Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds, Richard Cobden, Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin,