Société des bains de mer de Monaco

The Société des Bains de Mer (pronounced: [sɔsjete də bɛ̃ də mɛːʁ]), officially the Société des Bains de Mer et le Cercle des Étrangers à Monaco (pronounced: [sɔsjete də bɛ̃ də mɛːʁ du seʁle de etʁɑ̃geʁ ɑ mɔnako]), abbreviated SBM; Euronext: BAIN is a publicly traded company registered in the Principality of Monaco. SBM manages and owns the Monte Carlo Casino, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo.

After the First World War the Casino in Monte Carlo was in trouble. The world had changed, particularly the world of money, and the Prince of Monaco, Louis II believed the Casino's aged owner Camille Blanc had lost touch. As the Casino supplied the principality with revenue, he sought to replace Blanc and bring in fresh business management. For assistance he approached Sir Basil Zaharoff, the international financier and arms dealer who had long been a patron of the Côte d'Azur. Zaharoff managed to get hold of the shares and, with the aid of the Prince, shouldered Blanc out and became the Casino's master. Zaharoff brought in fresh administration and the result paid huge dividends.

In 1953 the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis bought up the shares of SBM via the use of front companies in the tax haven of Panama and took control of the organisation, moving his headquarters into the Old Sporting Club on Monaco's Avenue d'Ostende shortly after. Onassis's takeover of the SBM was initially welcomed by Monaco's ruler, Prince Rainier III as the country required investment, but Onassis and Rainier's relationship had deteriorated by 1962 in the wake of the boycott of Monaco by the French President, Charles de Gaulle.