UAE’s Invictus seeks takeover of Moroccan grain trader

Michael Major/Crop Trust/Flickr

• Wants 60% stake in Graderco
• Plans expansion across Africa
• Morocco offers subsidies for imports

Invictus Investment Company is planning to acquire a majority stake in one of the largest grain traders in Morocco as it seeks to expand operations across Africa.

The UAE commodities house, which is listed on the Abu Dhabi bourse, is aiming to buy a 60 percent stake in Graderco from Zalar Holding. 

The deal is under consideration by the Competition Council in Morocco. Invictus intends to invest AED1 billion ($270 million) through acquisitions and joint ventures in north and east African markets including Morocco, Algeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. 

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The UAE is the second-largest foreign investor in Morocco, accounting for $14 billion – more than 20 percent – of the total foreign capital stock in the kingdom.

The UAE and Morocco want to double bilateral trade and investment volumes over the next seven years.

The countries formed a taskforce last May to build on their AED3.6 billion ($991 million) non-oil foreign trade in 2022, which was up 16 percent from 2021 and more than two-thirds higher than 2020.

Based in Casablanca, Graderco imports more than two million tonnes of grains and other commodities and supplies major manufacturers in Morocco for both human and animal nutrition. 

The acquisition is still subject to Moroccan regulatory approvals, as well as approval of the boards of both Invictus and Zalar, a leading poultry group in the country.

In a filing to Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange Invictus CEO Amir Daoud Abdellatif described the deal as a “strong strategic fit for both companies”.

Invictus Investment Company

Morocco plans to offer subsidies for companies that stock imported wheat as the country contends with drought-reduced local production.

Traders told Reuters last week that the storage subsidy represented a further incentive to import wheat as Morocco endures a persistent drought that has reduced planting for this year’s cereal harvest.

In November, Morocco’s National Professional Cereals Office said that the government will import up to 2.5 million tonnes of wheat during the first third of this year.

Agriculture contributes almost 15 percent to Morocco’s GDP, and combined with the fishing and forestry sectors employs about 45 percent of Morocco’s workforce, according to the International Trade Organisation.

The latest World Bank report predicted that Morocco’s real GDP growth would be 3.1 percent in 2024, 3.3 percent in 2025 and 3.5 percent in 2026, as domestic demand gradually recovers from recent shocks including an earthquake which devastated parts of the country.