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Rabat Plans to Sell 8% of its Stake in Maroc Telecom

General view of Morocco's city of Moulay Driss Zerhoun (Fadel Senna, AFP)
General view of Morocco's city of Moulay Driss Zerhoun (Fadel Senna, AFP)
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Rabat Plans to Sell 8% of its Stake in Maroc Telecom

General view of Morocco's city of Moulay Driss Zerhoun (Fadel Senna, AFP)
General view of Morocco's city of Moulay Driss Zerhoun (Fadel Senna, AFP)

Morocco’s Maroc Telecom (IAM) said Friday that the government plans to sell almost eight percent stake in the company. This comes in a deal which is expected to add up to 10.4 billion dirhams ($1.1 billion) to the government’s treasury, according to an informed source.

The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the government would offer part of the stake for sale, adding that it has also considered offering for public another part of the stake which was limited to Moroccan and foreign institutional investors.

Maroc Telecom, listed on both the Casablanca Stock Exchange and Euronext Paris, is 53 percent owned by United Arab Emirates company Etisalat, with the Moroccan state owning 30 percent.

A public offering on Casablanca stock exchange will be announced in the next few weeks, the company said in a statement.

Since early 2019, the company’s share price has been fluctuating between 136 dirhams and 155 dirhams per share ($14.32 and $16.32 per share).

The total number of the company’s shares is 879 million, with a nominal value of six dirhams ($0.63) per share.

The sale is the first step in a government privatization plan to pump 5 billion to 6 billion dirhams ($527 million-$633 million) into the state budget by selling state assets to cut the 2019 budget deficit to 3.3 percent of gross domestic product, the source noted.

The deficit stood at 3.8 percent in 2018. Without privatization, the budget deficit would hit 3.7 percent of GDP in 2019.

The government also plans to sell the five-star La Mamounia hotel in Marrakech and the Tahaddart power plant in north of the country.

Notably, the privatization program, which has been launched since 1993 and has been completed in phases over the past three decades, resulted in selling 51 companies and 26 hotel units through 120 partial or total privatization process.

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Saudi Arabia Makes History with Adoption of Riyadh Treaty on Design Law

Photo of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Photo of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Makes History with Adoption of Riyadh Treaty on Design Law

Photo of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Photo of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia has made history by uniting the 193 member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to adopt the Riyadh Treaty on Design Law. This landmark achievement, realized after two decades of deliberation, underscores the Kingdom’s leadership in enhancing the global intellectual property system.

The announcement came at the conclusion of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty, a rare event for WIPO, which has not held a diplomatic conference outside Geneva for more than a decade. It was also the first such event hosted in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, representing the final stage of negotiations to establish an agreement aimed at simplifying and standardizing design protection procedures across member states.

Over the past two weeks, intensive discussions and negotiations among member states culminated in the adoption of the Riyadh Treaty, which commits signatory nations to a unified set of requirements for registering designs, ensuring consistent and streamlined procedures worldwide. The agreement is expected to have a significant positive impact on designers, enabling them to protect their creations more effectively and uniformly across international markets.

At a press conference held on Friday to mark the event’s conclusion, CEO of the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property Abdulaziz Al-Suwailem highlighted the economic potential of the new protocol.

Responding to a question from Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Suwailem noted the substantial contributions of young Saudi men and women in creative design. He explained that the agreement will enable their designs to be formally protected, allowing them to enter markets as valuable, tradable assets.

He also emphasized the symbolic importance of naming the convention the Riyadh Treaty, stating that it reflects Saudi Arabia’s growing influence as a bridge between cultures and a global center for innovative initiatives.

The treaty lays critical legal foundations to support designers and drive innovation worldwide, aligning with Saudi Arabia’s vision of promoting international collaboration in the creative industries and underscoring its leadership in building a sustainable future for innovators.

The agreement also advances global efforts to enhance creativity, protect intellectual property, and stimulate innovation on a broader scale.

This achievement further strengthens Saudi Arabia’s position as a global hub for groundbreaking initiatives, demonstrating its commitment to nurturing creativity, safeguarding designers’ rights, and driving the development of creative industries on an international scale.

The Riyadh Diplomatic Conference, held from November 11 to 22, was hosted by the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property and attracted high-ranking officials and decision-makers from WIPO member states.