Tuesday 24 September 2013

Abu Dhabi Energy Producer Taqa Said to Plan Morocco Unit IPO

By Souhail Karam & Stefania Bianchi - Sep 24, 2013 5:45 PM GMT+0400
Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., the state-controlled producer, is planning an initial public offering of its Moroccan power unit as it expands output in the country, according to five people with knowledge of the matter.
The energy producer met with Attijariwafa Bank, Banque Centrale Populaire and Societe Generale SA on the potential 1.7 billion dirham ($205 million) listing last month, two of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The company also spoke to Moroccan regulators on its plans for the IPO of the Jorf Lasfar Energy Co. unit, without giving a time frame for the sale, the people said.
A spokesman for Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., known as Taqa, declined to comment. Nora el-Boraqadi, a spokeswoman for Societe Generale Marocaine des Banques, also declined to comment, as did an official at Banque Centrale Populaire. Ismail Douiri, co-chief executive officer of Attijariwafa, didn’t respond to e-mails from Bloomberg.
The listing would be the largest on the Casablanca stock exchange since property developer Alliances Development Immobilier raised 2 billion dirhams in July 2008. It comes as Gulf companies from Qatar Petroleum to Abu Dhabi industrial holding company Senaat consider share sales.

Taqa Shareholders

Taqa’s board and shareholders have yet to approve the plan, one of the people said, and the timing will depend on conditions at the Casablanca exchange, two of the people said. SocGen and Banque Populaire were among lenders hired to raise $1.4 billion this year for Jorf Lasfar to help finance a 700 megawatt expansion of a coal-fired power complex to 2,056 megawatts.
Jorf Lasfar is the largest coal-fired power plant in the Middle East and North Africa and the first independent power producer in Morocco, supplying 40 percent of the Kingdom’s electricity output, according to Taqa. Construction work on the expansion began in September 2010 and two new units are scheduled to be commissioned in December and next April.
Qatar Petroleum, the emirate’s state-run energy producer, plans to raise 3.2 billion riyals ($879 million) in an IPO of a newly created petrochemicals unit, three people with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Abu Dhabi industrial holding group Senaat hired HSBC Holdings Plc and JPMorgan Chase for a share sale this year, two people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this week.
Taqa gained 0.8 percent to 1.28 dirhams at the close in Abu Dhabi today and has declined 6 percent this year. The ADX General Index has gained 45 percent over the same period.
To contact the reporters on this story: Souhail Karam in Egypt at skaram5@bloomberg.net; Stefania Bianchi in Dubai at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net