(Ecofin Agency) - The government of Morocco is planning to sell 8% stake in Maroc Telecom. An operation that will earn the Treasury MAD8.87 billion ($920 million), according to a note issued June 15 by the country’s capital market regulator AMMC.
First, a 6% stake of 52.74 million shares, at MAD127 ($13.2) each, will be sold en bloc to local institutional investors such as pension funds, insurance companies and banks. Remaining 2% will be sold on the Casablanca Stock Exchange through a public tender at MAD125 ($12.9) per share, between June 26 and July 5. This 2% stake includes 2.9 million shares representing 0.3% of Maroc Telecom's share capital, which will be sold to the company’s employees at MAD117.7 each.
With this operation, the Moroccan government is reducing its interest in Maroc Telecom from 30% to 22%. Emirates group Etisalat also holds 53% of the company.
Let’s note that the sale of 8% stake in Maroc Telecom is the first step of a big privatization program aimed at narrowing the country's budget deficit to 3.3% of GDP this year from 3.7% last year. Under the program, the State also plans to privatize a hotel and a power plant.
The Morocco-based company is also present, through its subsidiaries, in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania, Togo and Niger.