Singapore’s Wilmar International is selling its minority interest in Moroccan sugar processor Cosumar.
The Singapore-listed agri-food major said the 30% stake will be purchased by “several Moroccan investors” for a deal price of more than Dh5.9bn ($600m). The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Cosumar is listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange. The company produces sugar through the processing of sugar cane and sugar beet in its home market and also acts as a refiner for imported sugar into Morocco, Wilmar International said.
Wilmar International is also instigating two other transactions with Cosumar, one in Morocco and the other in Saudi Arabia.
The Singapore company is buying 45% of Wilmaco, another business in Morocco engaged in the production and processing of vegetable fats and by-products. The deal price has been set at Dh85m.
Wilmaco, which will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wilmar International, is building a factory to produce “speciality fats” in Morocco, due to be completed in the final quarter of the year.
The agri-food giant will also take the 43.3% interest held by Cosumar in Saudi Arabia-based Durrah Advanced Development for SR242.8m ($64.7m). Wilmar International already owns 5% of that business, with the remaining 51.7% held by investors in Saudi Arabia.
Durrah is a refiner and distributor of imported raw sugar.
Wilmar International said there is no certainty that the Wilmaco and Durrah transactions will be completed as it advised investors to “trade with caution” in its own shares. Both deals are subject to final terms being agreed, including the approval of both sets of directors.
If successful, the twin deals are expected to be finalised “by” September.
