A call to all economic players in the region was launched by the CRI and the Casablanca Stock Exchange, while setting up a specific support program dedicated to companies for their preparation for the IPO.
With the aim of bringing together the financing tools and the support offered by the Casablanca Stock Exchange, a meeting was initiated last Tuesday in Tangier for the benefit of economic operators in the region by the Regional Investment Center of Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima and the Casablanca stock market.
Placed under the theme “IPO as a means of financing and accelerating businesses in the region”, this meeting was an opportunity for participants to discover the advantages of financing through the stock market. Speaking on this occasion, Jalal Benhayoun, Director General of CRI-TTA, stressed that this meeting comes at a propitious moment marked certainly by an unprecedented economic crisis which is a source of threat, but also of opportunities for companies.
“Morocco has launched several mechanisms in favor of entrepreneurship, including the Integrated Business Support and Financing Program, called “Inteleka”, for which the State has mobilized an envelope of 8 billion dirhams in 3 years within the framework of a public-private partnership”, explained Jalal Benhayoun.
This mechanism aimed at facilitating access to financing for VSMEs for their start-up and growth needs with interest rates is also a support offer for the benefit of project promoters, for which the CRI, with the support of Tamwilkoum, launched a call for tenders for the accompaniment of 1,000 project leaders at the level of all the provinces and prefectures of the region, with an estimated amount of 10 MDH.
IPO: a specific support program
Alongside this financing mechanism, other alternative financing options were exposed, particularly on the financial market. They can meet the different needs of different categories of companies, noted the director of the CRI, stressing that the stock market is a real opportunity for companies, especially those in the region, to develop and open up to new markets and new Horizons.
In this respect, Jalal Benhayoun launched an appeal to all the players, in particular the Casablanca Stock Exchange and the CGEM-Nord, while setting up a specific support program dedicated to companies in the region for their preparation for the ‘Initial Public Offering.
For his part, the regional director of Bank Al Maghrib, Ali Benali, noted that the investment capacity of very small, small and medium-sized Moroccan companies remains weak, reviewing the results of an HCP survey in 2019. , according to which only 29.4% of VSEs declared having made an investment between 2016 and 2018, a share which increases to 41.5% for SMEs and 80% for large companies.
Benali specified that the financing of Moroccan companies is dominated by self-financing and limited recourse to external financing, essentially bank loans, while recourse to the capital market remains low and largely dominated by financial establishments.
Diversify their funding sources
For his part, the vice-president of CGEM-Nord, Mohamed Ben Mokhtar, said that the stock market allows companies to diversify their sources of financing by opting for capital without constraints.
According to Ben Mokhtar, access to the stock market gives companies the possibility of having liquidity without the constraints of a new partner or even a bank loan. As for the general manager of the Casablanca Stock Exchange, Tarik Senhaji, he focused on financing through the Stock Exchange and the capital market.
Note that the stock exchange offers a market dedicated to SMEs, called the alternative market. It is accessible to companies with a balance sheet of less than 200 MDH and less than 300 employees, with the advantage of fewer constraints in terms of governance and financial communication obligations.
Yassine Saber / ECO Inspirations
