Rabat - SNI, a private holding company, has reportedly hired American and British investment Banks Goldman Sachs and Rothschild to advise it on the sale of a minority stake in Attijariwafa Bank, one of the SNI’s senior managers was quoted by Jeune Afrique magazine as saying.
SNI could sell at least 19 percent of Attijariwafa Bank, one of Morocco and Africa’s biggest banks, for an estimated 900 million Euros ($ 1 billion), the French-speaking magazine reported, quoting Abdelmajid Tazlaoui, managing director of Onapar, the real estate arm of SNI.
"In January, the two banks Goldman Sachs and Rothschild were mandated to finalize the deal," Jeune Afrique’s report said.
SNI, or Société Nationale d'Investissement (National Investment Company) is planning to reduce its 48 percent stake in Attijariwafa Bank to less than 30 percent, according to the magazine, adding that the royal holding company is also planning to focus its future growth strategy on other sectors such as tourism, telecoms and renewable energies.
Tazlaoui said this transaction would help fund the repurchase of SNI’s debt. "SNI's debt was 28 billion Dirhams in 2010, and yet 17 billion Dirhams in October 2014, now it fell to 10 billion Dirhams" Tadlaoui added.
Last year, SNI sold an additional 21, 75% of dairy firm Centrale Laitiere to world’s largest yoghurt maker Danone for an estimated €278 million. It also completed the sale of remaining 50 percent in Morocco’s top biscuit maker, Bimo, to Kraft Foods, for 1.31 Billion Dirhams.
In addition, SNI has announced plans to sell the remaining 9, 1 % it holds in the capital of Cosumar, a group specialized in the extraction, refining and the conditioning of sugar.
The post Morocco’s SNI Plans to Sell Stakes at Attijariwafa Bank appeared first on Morocco World News.