MOROCCO – Morocco’s OCP Group, a global leader in plant nutrition and phosphate-based fertilizers, has launched an investor roadshow for an international bond valued at up to US$2 billion aiming to fund its development plan.
According to the company’s source cited by Reuters, the group chaired by Mostafa Terrab chose the French commercial bank BNP Paribas, the American financial company Citigroup as well as the American financial holding company JP Morgan to carry out the operation.
The moves come after the company announced in 2022 a colossal US$13 billion green transition plan that would see the company power all of its industrial facilities using green energy.
Covering the period between 2023 and 2027, the plan is part of the group’s broader strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.
Recently, the Group joined forces with Fortescue Energy, part of Fortescue Ltd, a company specializing in green energy, metals, and technology, to form a landmark joint venture in Morocco.
This partnership, based on equal collaboration, aimed to supply green hydrogen, ammonia, and fertilizers to Morocco, Europe, and international markets while advancing renewable energy technologies.
According to the parties, the venture was driven by a shared commitment to reducing emissions and fostering sustainability.
In addition, the investment plan seeks to end the group’s reliance on ammonia imports, a key component in the manufacturing of fertilizers.
This follows that, in its recent financial report, the group announced that its profit for 2023 dropped by 49% to 14.29 billion dirhams (US$1.4 billion), nearly half of the profit of 28.2 billion dirhams (US$2.8 billion) earned by the group a year earlier.
According to the fertilizer giant, this underperformance mainly stems from a 20% drop in revenues generated by the company, down to 91.3 billion dirhams (US$9 billion) in 2023 from US$11.4 billion a year earlier.
“The drop in our revenue is linked to the reduction in the selling prices of our phosphate products [fertilizers, rock, and phosphoric acid] compared to the exceptional prices from which we had benefited during the year 2022,” explained Mostafa Terrab, Chairman, and CEO of the OCP group.
In addition, the company attributes the performance to a drop in prices from the exceptional levels of 2022, when the war in Ukraine triggered a surge in commodities prices globally.
Meanwhile, OCP has pledged to produce 200,000 tons of green ammonia by 2026, followed by an ambitious target of one million tons over the next four years.
The phosphate giant plans to further expand production, reaching a total output of three million tons by 2032.
This ambitious plan aligns with OCP Group’s commitment to achieving 100% usage of green ammonia in its products.
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