The former Minister of Commerce and Industry, and CEO of the Saham group, would be in the process of acquiring 57% of the shares of Société Générale Maroc, held by the French banking group, which is leaving the Moroccan market. But not only. Moulay Hafid Elalamy also wants to take over certain sub-Saharan African subsidiaries of the third French bank. The details.
The news has been circulating for several days without any official denial or clarification to contradict it. One of the figures of Moroccan capitalism Moulay Hafid Elalamy is in the process of taking over Société Générale in Morocco, several sources report. This seems to be confirmed as the days go by. The French banking group, which neither confirms nor denies this information, is in well-advanced negotiations with the holding company Saham, the former Minister of Industry, for the sale of its majority stake of 57% in Société Générale Maroc.
An agreement has even already been reached and the transaction is the subject of discussions with a view to its next approval by the competent authorities in Morocco. The value of the operation is announced at approximately 803 million dollars, for a subsidiary which, in 2023, contributed 484 million euros (529.07 million dollars) to the net banking income (equivalent to the figure of ‘business) of the Société Générale group.
But that’s not all. In addition to being the fifth largest bank in the Moroccan market, the CEO of the Saham group would also target certain sub-Saharan African subsidiaries of the French banking group. It must be said that Société Générale, active in 17 countries on the continent, has been working for several months to reduce its size. Thus, since 2022, it has started to implement a strategy for the sale of its African subsidiaries, with two first operations finalized in the Republic of Congo (December 2023) and Chad (January 2024).
Four other subsidiaries (Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Equatorial Guinea) are being finalized. The Tunisian subsidiary is the subject of a strategic review and nothing official has yet been revealed about the 10 remaining subsidiaries deemed more lucrative, including that of Ivory Coast, the group’s second African subsidiary after Société Générale Maroc.
A mega operation in sight
Of these ten African subsidiaries, Elalamy has also entered into negotiations to take over Ivory Coast, Senegal, Benin, and Togo, according to a source generally well-informed on the banking microcosm in sub-Saharan Africa. “It is rather a mega operation that the Moroccan group would consider carrying out which should allow it to get its hands on these four banks in four West African countries. A masterstroke. This is the least we can say to qualify this operation as a highlight because, through it, Saham wants to take advantage of the French bank’s disengagement from sub-Saharan Africa to develop rapidly internationally. However, the operation is not yet complete,” explains the same source.
If this operation in West Africa is confirmed, it would allow Saham Holding to take control of a banking network representing nearly 160 branches (Côte d’Ivoire-90 branches-, Senegal-52-, Benin-16 – and Togo-2 agencies-) with its head the Ivorian subsidiary which is starting to accustom observers to record profits after taxes. This is evidenced by the end of the 2023 financial year which was indeed marked by a profit of 97.230 billion FCFA (156 million dollars) against 74.612 billion FCFA (119.379 million dollars).
In Africa, Société Générale is not the only European bank to reduce its presence. Last August, Barclays sold its remaining 7.4% stake in South African bank Absa, marking its almost complete withdrawal from its 90-year presence on the continent, leaving only a banking center there. ‘investment.
The other British bank Standard Chartered announced last April its withdrawal from five African countries, Angola, Cameroon, Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe, to concentrate on faster-growing markets. .
BNP Paribas also began to withdraw from sub-Saharan Africa in 2019. After selling its operations in Gabon and Guinea, the bank sold its subsidiary in Senegal and also withdrew from Ivory Coast.
In just under twenty years, competition in the banking sector in sub-Saharan Africa has changed. The offensive is led by pan-African groups including Attijariwafa Bank, Bank Of Africa, and Banque Centrale Populaire.
Until then, for their establishment, the Moroccan banking trio favors the acquisition of existing banks. Today, with their expansion across the continent, more than one dirham in four of the profits they make are generated by their African subsidiaries. In West Africa alone, they represent nearly 20% of banking activity. This would explain the motivations of Moulay Hafid Elalamy, whose desire to become a banker ultimately never left him. He theoretically has cash of around 1.7 billion dollars after the sale of Saham Finances to the South African Sanlam, for an amount of 1.05 billion dollars, as well as the monetization of the group’s participation in Majorel.
