Sothema IPO is a success, manager

Moroccan private drug maker Sothema initial public offering (IPO) is a success, said Amine Benabdeslem, a manager in Casablanca stock exchange.

In the Casablanca stock exchange first listing of a drug company started Tuesday, the IPO offered 15 percent of the capital of the firm, for between 630 and 720 dirhams each.

For 150.000 shares, the operation registered 1.080 million acquisition applications.

Six nationalities participated in this operation; Moroccans (145.598 shares), Americans (3.325 shares), French (560 shares), Germans (300 shares), Tunisians (211 shares) and Spanish (6 shares).

Set up in 1975, Sothema controls 10 percent of the domestic market of about 500 mln Euros a year and plans to expand to sub-Saharan Africa with a 2 million euro production unit in Senegal.

It has 230 drug licenses from 32 international firms such as Eli Lilly (LLY.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Alcon (ACL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and UCB (UCBBt.BR: Quote, Profile, Research).

An addition to Morocco's 75-year old bourse, which has fewer than 55 listed companies and a combined market capitalization of $24.2 billion, is a major event for the listing-hungry market.