Content area
Full Text
The Moroccan stock market and government achieved a triumphant success yesterday (Thursday) with the completion of the $1.1bn IPO of Maroc Telecom.
As EuroWeek went to press the government had yet to finally confirm its acceptance of the price range and bankers working on the deal were wary of saying that this was just a formality.
But the flotation was priced at the top of the price range, despite being the largest share placement ever in Morocco and the second largest in Africa (outside South Africa).
The $1.1bn it netted the government is equal to more than half its budget deficit, or 2.3% of Morocco's GDP.
For lead managers BNP Paribas and Merrill Lynch the success of the deal was proof that they had succeeded in their wider mandate to develop the Moroccan stock market and to raise the profile of the company...