Private Placements Change Scale

Figures published by the Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC) confirm the growing expansion of the private debt market, mainly driven by the rise of private placements. In 2024, funds raised through this form reached 11.78 billion dirhams, compared to 4.79 billion the previous year, representing an impressive increase of 145.9%. This trend visibly continues in 2025, based on the latest operations recorded in the first months of the year.

Several large companies have used this channel since the beginning of the year, illustrating both market confidence and the flexibility offered by this financing mode.

Starting in January, Afriquia Gaz (600 million dirhams) and Maghreb Oxygène (450 million) kicked off the movement, followed in February by Saham with a raise of 1.6 billion. In April, the Al Omrane group mobilized 1.5 billion, while in May, Jet Contractors issued 600 million dirhams. June marked a real acceleration with a series of major operations: Auto Nejma (600 million), RCI Finance Maroc (500 million), Label’Vie (1.5 billion), Holged (500 million), IAM (3 billion), ONEE (3.5 billion), and Nador West Med (500 million). The momentum continued through the summer: in July, Autoroutes du Maroc raised 2.5 billion dirhams, Managem one billion, and Building Logistics 500 million, while in August, Mohammed VI University concluded an operation of one billion dirhams.

Flexibility and Profitability

This acceleration is explained by several structural factors. The flexibility of private placements regarding the AMMC framework, which does not require prior approval while remaining regulated, is a major advantage for issuers. But beyond procedural aspects, it is the increasing confidence of qualified investors that plays a decisive role. The financial solidity of the companies involved, their transparency, and the clarity of their prospects and solvency enhance their attractiveness in a particularly favorable national economic context.

According to a market source, this evolution marks a clear break from the situation just five years ago, when this type of issuance struggled to find takers. “Today, operations are better prepared, better targeted, and often subscribed even before their closing, reflecting a growing anticipated demand from investors”.

Added to this is a purely financial key element: the risk-return combination offered by these instruments remains one of the most competitive in the current Moroccan market. In an environment marked by low bond rates, an almost reached limit in equity allocation, and a growing preference for rate products, bonds issued through private placement are easily taken up. These securities are now integrated, for some institutional investors, as core portfolio holdings. “They are perceived as offering a good compromise between yield, good scoring, and low volatility, with a holding-until-maturity logic that mitigates exposure to interest rate risk”, highlights the same source.

Including Negotiable Debt Securities (TCN), private debt raised in 2024 exceeds 101 billion dirhams, compared to 87 billion in 2023.

This unprecedented level testifies to a change of scale in non-bank financing for companies in Morocco.