Powerful company runs Monaco’s day-to-day affairs

THINKING of buying a villa perched on Monaco’s craggy coastline, or opening a casino or a luxury hotel? Think again.

It takes more than a suitcase full of cash and connections to live or do business in this exclusive principality.

Much of Monaco's day-to-day affairs are run by the Societe des Bains de Mer et Du Cercle des Etrangers a Monaco, a powerful company that runs all five casinos and a vast array of other properties and is one of Monaco's biggest landlords. The ruling Grimaldi family headed by 81-year-old Prince Rainier, holds a 69.6% controlling stake in SBM, a publicly traded company, roughly translated in English as the Sea Bathing Society and Foreigners' Circle of Monaco.

Practically speaking, SBM founded in 1863 wields considerable influence in decisions on who moves to or invests in glitzy Monaco, whose privileged residents pay no income tax. Over the decades, it has acquired numerous rental apartments and commercial properties, and owns four luxury hotels, more than two dozen gourmet restaurants, an exclusive nightclub, a vast wine cellar and Monaco's only private beach, golf course and tennis club.

Rainier has been a hands-on leader with an executive's flair for attracting foreign investment. He is widely known for taking a personal interest in almost every aspect of the elegant enclave, although SBM or people linked to it make most of the decisions on development proposals and major real estate sales. Rainier earned the nickname the "builder prince" for his many infrastructure projects and for making Monaco a hub for the pharmaceutical industry. Monaco, a constitutional monarchy, has a legislature and a judiciary as well as the executive branch headed by Rainier, who serves as chief of state and presides over a four-member Cabinet. The principality's official currency is the euro.