Maroc Telecom raises $330 million in bond issuance on local market
RABAT:
Maroc Telecom
, Morocco's largest telecoms operator, has raised 3 billion dirhams ($330 million) in its first private
bond issuance
on the domestic market, it said on Tuesday.
The bond, with a two-year maturity and bullet repayment, was issued at a fixed rate of 2.37%, the company said in a statement.
The money will help the company refinance a part of its debt and support its investments in 5G and fiber optic development, it said.
Maroc Telecom, which is listed on the Casablanca stock exchange and on Euronext Paris, is 53% controlled by the UAE's Etisalat, while the Moroccan state holds a 22% stake.
Besides Morocco, it operates subsidiaries in Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Togo.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
UK backs away from renewable energy project to transport energy underwater from Morocco
The United Kingdom has stepped back from a project to transmit power generated by North Africa's winds and sun via underwater cables and is pivoting to other projects seen as less risky, British energy officials said Thursday. The country's Energy Security Department said in a statement that they would no longer support the $33 billion project due to a "high level of inherent risk, related to both delivery and security." The Morocco-UK Power Project was announced by the British company Xlinks in 2021 as part of an effort to create a global energy grid and ship power from places where it's cheap to produce to high-demand markets. Xlinks said the project would provide an equivalent of 8 per cent of Britain's current electricity needs, or roughly 7 million homes. "There are stronger alternative options that we should focus our attention on," British minister Michael Schanks said in a statement, noting the inherent risk for taxpayers and consumers. The United Kingdom relies heavily on natural gas for its energy needs and aims to generate all of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. It closed its last coal-fired power plant last year and offered partial financing to a raft of wind, solar and energy storage projects to help meet its goal. Such large-scale infrastructure projects typically rely on some governmental support or fixed prices per megawatt-hour. Xlinks was pursuing a fixed price agreement and has already received loans from investors including France's Total Energies and the development bank Africa Finance Corporation. Xlinks Board Chair Dave Lewis said in a statement that the company would continue pursuing the project despite the government's decision. "We are hugely surprised and bitterly disappointed," he said, noting that the company believed its project would offer electricity at cheaper rates and more quickly than other proposals, including to expand nuclear power. Xlinks is one of a slew of projects that reflect how European countries are looking south to North Africa for clean energy, testing whether it's cheaper to generate renewable power in ideal conditions far away and ship it, or to produce it domestically. The project would transmit electricity through nearly 4,000 kilometers of underwater cables encased in protective plastic and steel, with minimal transmission loss. If completed, it would be the largest interconnector of its kind, though smaller subsea cable networks already link the UK to neighboring European countries. In addition to Xlinks, transmission projects in Tunisia and Egypt aim to link solar and wind farms to Italy and Greece Moroccan officials did not respond to questions about the decision.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
Chinese-Moroccan joint venture inaugurates EV battery parts plant
A Chinese-Moroccan joint venture announced on Wednesday the inauguration of a new factory for electric car battery components, the first of its kind in the North African country. The complex will ultimately have a production "capacity equivalent to 70 GWh per year, enough to equip nearly one million electric vehicles annually", according to operator Cobco , a joint venture between the Moroccan royal family's holding company Al Mada and the Chinese firm CNGR Advanced Materials . The first phase of the project will produce nickel-manganese-cobalt precursor cathodes, "essential components for batteries used in electric vehicles and stationary energy storage", Cobco said in a statement. The venture will eventually comprise three "complementary" projects, it added, including a facility for refining critical metals and recycling old batteries. China has become a global leader in electric vehicle battery production, while Morocco has recently invested heavily in renewable energy , which currently accounts for 38 percent of the electricity produced in the country.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Time of India
Maroc Telecom raises $330 million in bond issuance on local market
RABAT: Maroc Telecom , Morocco's largest telecoms operator, has raised 3 billion dirhams ($330 million) in its first private bond issuance on the domestic market, it said on Tuesday. The bond, with a two-year maturity and bullet repayment, was issued at a fixed rate of 2.37%, the company said in a statement. The money will help the company refinance a part of its debt and support its investments in 5G and fiber optic development, it said. Maroc Telecom, which is listed on the Casablanca stock exchange and on Euronext Paris, is 53% controlled by the UAE's Etisalat, while the Moroccan state holds a 22% stake. Besides Morocco, it operates subsidiaries in Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Togo.
