Businessman Iskandar Safa, owner of Valeurs Actuelles, is dead

The Franco-Lebanese shipyard magnate Iskandar Safa, owner of the far-right weekly Valeurs Actuelles, has died at the age of 68, the newspaper’s managing director announced Monday, January 29. “A warrior to the end, he faced a serious illness in recent months but it got the better of his courage. He died, standing, on January 29, 2024, in Mougins, surrounded by the warmth of his family”specifies a press release written by the editorial staff of the weekly and published on its website.

Born in 1955 into a Christian family, the businessman was one of the negotiators for the release in 1988 of French hostages in Lebanon. He became known to the general public in 1992 by buying the Normandy mechanical construction sites. Very secretive, Iskandar Safa controlled shipyards in Cherbourg, Greece, Abu Dhabi and north of Hamburg in Germany. It had six major national navies as clients. In 2019, he was a candidate for the takeover of the Nice-Matin group. His fortune and that of his brother Akram amounted to 1.45 billion euros, according to Challenges magazine in 2023.