Radio-Canada has sold part of its legendary Brown Tower and its vast land in downtown Montreal to a rich Saudi family without knowing it.
In July 2017, the sale to the Mach Group, led by the promoter Vincent Chiara, radio-Canada land for $ 42 million had made a lot of noise.
And for good reason, because in addition to confirming the move of the state -owned company, this transaction also announced the formation of an entire district, later baptized district of lights.
Despite all the attention around this project of more than 2,500 dwellings, the name of one of the important investors, the Saudi family Alshowaier, has passed under the radar.
First hour partner
The state-owned company itself was unaware that the Saudi family, the main leader of which is Zaki Alshowaier, was among the buyers of his vast land, until our investigation office informed him in early July.
“According to our files, we had no information to the effect that Mr. Alshowaier was one of the ultimate buyers or beneficiaries at the time of the transaction in 2017 or thereafter,” said Leon Mar, director of Relations with the Radio-Canada media.
However, Mach specifies that “Sarees Investments [une entreprise de la famille Alshowaier, NDLR] is a partner of the first hour throughout the project ”.
“As soon as the site is acquired, in 2017, she participated in all the stages of the project and she continues to do so,” said the spokesperson for the Mach group, Sylvie Rousseau.
For the past ten years, the Alshowaier family has also acquired major real estate assets across Quebec in partnership with Mach.
Added in 2024
For more than six years, there was no trace of these Saudis in the company’s public documents which bought the Radio-Canada land, Faubourg de la Gauchetière inc.
It was not until 2024 that the name of Abdulaziz Alshowaier was added as one of the ultimate beneficiaries in the Quebec business register.
According to the register, it has between 25 and 50% of the company’s voting rights since its creation in February 2017.
This man, who lives in Saudi Arabia, is the father of Zaki Alshowaier and founded the family business, “over 50 years ago”, specifies the Mach group.
Asked about the public absence of the Saudis in the project until recently, the spokesperson for Mach did not give a precise reason, but she indicated that “certain related entities [pouvaient] have been used for strategic and administrative reasons ”.
Not supervised
The sale of state real estate to foreign companies, such as that of radio-Canada land, is not prohibited or even supervised in the federal government.
There are no “specific provisions concerning the sale of real estate to companies, individuals or foreign interests,” said Public Services and supply Canada.
