Reuters
moroccoonthemove.com
Moroccan state-run phosphate company OCP, one of the world’s biggest exporters of phosphates and its derivatives, will start a roadshow on Thursday for a possible second foreign bond issue, a company official said on Wednesday.
“The maturity and the amount will depend on market conditions” the official said. The company has hired Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc to arrange the deal.
Last month, Fitch affirmed OCP a Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and senior unsecured rating at BBB-, with a stable outlook.
It would be OCP’s second foreign bond issue after it raised $1.55 billion last year.
The company, which controls a third of the international market for phosphate, posted an 11.7 percent fall in 2014 net profit to 7.74 billion Moroccan dirham ($785.74 million) hurt by lower global prices.
The company, a major earner of foreign currency for Morocco, seeks global financing to improve its infrastructure and boost its output. It has also launched a series of acquisitions.
It aims to raise output to 47 million tonnes of crude phosphate rock in 2017 from around 34 million tonnes last year.
OCP reached an agreement last year to buy U.S. headquartered Bunge’s 50-percent stake in their Moroccan fertiliser joint venture Bunge Maroc Phosphore S.A. for an undisclosed amount.
It has also signed an agreement to buy a 10 percent stake in Brazil-based company Fertilizantes Heringer S.A for 145 million Brazilian real.
($1 = 9.8506 Moroccan dirham)
(Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi, additional reporting by Archana Narayanan, editing by Louise Heavens)
