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Rabat – Abdelmoumen Group and CDG Invest signed on Wednesday in Rabat an investment contract aimed at acquiring an equity interest in the automotive business of Socafix, with an expected result of boosting Morocco’s automotive sector.
The contract, estimated at a budget of MAD 110 million ($11.9 million), concerns investment in the automotive activity of Socafix, a subsidiary of the Abdelmoumen Group.
The signing of the contract between CDG Invest and Abdelmoumen Group seeks to establish a partnership in the automotive sector to strengthen the presence of Morocco’s assets in the industrial fabric. It also aims to increase the rate of local integration.
CDG Invest is a branch of the Caisse de Depot et de Gestion (CDG), a Moroccan public finance institution.
The deal also seeks to consolidate the presence of the company in Morocco’s automotive sector and to support its growth plan.
Minister of Trade Moulay Hafid Elalamy attended the signing, welcoming the 100% Moroccan investment.
He said the project seeks to contribute to the development of “in-depth local integration and the upscaling of the sector.”
Elalamy added that the investment contract offers a “starting point for CDG investment in the automotive sector.”
Hakim Abdelmoumen, the director of the Abdelmoumen Group, signed the contract with the Managing Director of the Global Trades Fund of CDG Invest, Salaheddine Kamali.
CEO of CDG Abdellatif Zaghnoun lauded the closure of the deal, saying that “it materializes the strategic shift that the group has been making since 2017.”
He stressed that the contract also heralds “new prospects for investment for CDG, as well as new development opportunities” for Morocco in the automotive sector.
Zaghnoun said CDG made a strategic choice to address the productive fabric by consolidating its investment capacities on this axis.
“With an initial budget of MAD 1.5 billion ($162 million), this fund, which can evolve according to needs, will support these companies to strengthen their financial bases.”
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The fund will also allow such groups to “flourish.”
Abdelmoumen also expressed satisfaction with the project.
He said his group seeks to build a leading automotive sector in Morocco and in the region.
The operation will allow for the development of a “large Moroccan industrial group, in order to create 1,000 jobs in the next 5 years,” Abdelmoumen underlined.
Morocco’s promising automotive sector
The project is part of Morocco’s vision to become a regional leader in the sector.
Moroccan government seeks to make the country the most competitive automotive hub in the world.
Minister Elalamy recently said that Morocco intends to take advantage of all the opportunities that the COVID-19 crisis offered to become a worldwide leader in the sector.
“By trusting in our strengths, our country was able to increase in competence, in production and in agility in record time, despite health constraints,” Elalamy told News Hebdo earlier this month.
The automotive sector, a key pillar in Morocco’s economy, is among the industries that suffered the greatest shocks from the pandemic.
Morocco’s central bank, however, upgraded Morocco’s economic outlook for 2021 thanks to car exports.
The bank forecast an increase of 22.4% in Morocco’s exports next year. The increase will be largely thanks to the improvement of automotive exports.
