Maroc Telecom listing postponed due to high demand

The first listing of Maroc Telecom was postponed in Casablanca because of high demand on shares, said a source in the stock market.

Over 1.5 million shares of the Moroccan national telecom operator were requested, but prices have not been determined due to the insufficiency of offer, said the same source.

Abdeslam Ahizoune, chairman of Maroc Telecom, said on Sunday the "unprecedented" demand from investors for shares in its initial public offering was a clear sign that the best years were still to come for Morocco's best-known company.

There were 21 times more offers from investors than shares available for the IPO, the banker said in an interview with the Financial Times, noting that demand was even higher in Europe and the US, where the 30 per cent of the offering allocated for investors was 50 times subscribed.

Maroc Telecom is controlled by Vivendi Universal, the French media and telecoms group, which last month agreed to acquire a 16 per cent stake from the government for ?1.1bn, giving it 51 per cent.

Meantime, Abdeslam Ahizoune, chairman of Maroc Telecom, said on Sunday the "unprecedented" demand from investors for shares in its initial public offering today was a clear sign that the best years were still to come for Morocco's best-known company.

"I am delighted and very proud of the interest from investors," said Mr Ahizoune in an interview with the Financial Times. "There was unprecedented interest in Morocco, but what I am most pleased about is the level of interest from US, European and Middle East investors."

Bankers working on the government's sale of a 15 per cent stake in the Islamic kingdom's incumbent telecoms operator were flooded with offers from "the great and the good of world finance," according to a senior French banker.