Retail Holding raises capital to expand and modernise Ivorian subsiduary

Morocco-based Retail Holding has raised MAD600 million (USD62 million) from the private placement of a five-year bond in order to consolidate its control of Ivorian wholesaler and retailer CDCI and fund its expansion and modernisation.
This comes after reports in the Ivorian media earlier this year that CFAO (Carrefour’s franchisee in francophone West Africa, which currently operates three outlets in Côte d’Ivoire) was in talks to acquire CDCI, which is the second-largest player in Ivorian grocery retail, behind Prosuma, with more than 150 stores.
Retail Holding owns 51% of Moroccan supermarket chain Label’Vie, which franchises the Carrefour banner in its domestic market. In 2014, it joined with Paris-based private equity fund Amethis Finance to acquire a stake in CDCI, and they became the majority shareholder two years later.
ln 2017, Retail Holding chairman and co-CEO Zouhaïr Bennani Moroccan business magazine Telquel: “We wanted to see the market [Côte d’Ivoire] – to test it. We have sent our executives to see if there is really an opportunity for our teams to add value. It has been a success.”
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If you want to know more about the rapidly expanding Ivorian grocery retail market, take a look at our latest CDCI and Prosuma Research Reports