[Intl-tobacco] Morocco to sell majority stake in tobacco monopoly

[Robert Weissman]

Reuters
UPDATE - Morocco to sell majority stake in tobacco monopoly
Monday January 20, 12:54 pm ET

(Updates throughout with majority stake to be sold)
RABAT, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Morocco intends to launch an international tender
next month for sale of a majority stake in tobacco monopoly Regie des
Tabacs, a top government official said on Monday.

"We plan to launch the tender at the beginning of February or by
mid-February," Najib Hajoui, head of privatisation at the Finance and
Privatisation Ministry, told Reuters.

The percentage of Regie's capital that the state plans to sell has not been
set yet, he said.

Hajoui said the tender's date would depend on several factors including how
long the upper house of parliament takes to approve a bill on the
liberalisation of the tobacco industry.

The lower house earlier this month approved the bill that would liberalise
the tobacco industry from January 2005.

Hajoui said the date of the tender would also depend on when the evaluation
body sets the minimum sale price of the stake.

Half a dozen international tobacco firms are interested in the privatisation
of Regie, including French-Spanish Altadis (Madrid:ALT.MC - News), British
American Tobacco (London:BATS.L - News), Japan Tobacco (Tokyo:2914.T - News)
and Philip Morris (NYSE:MO - News).

Regie des Tabacs has an annual turnover of some $800 million and yields the
state's treasury $600 million in taxes.

A senior finance ministry official said earlier on Monday that some of the
potential bidders had sent teams of auditors to check the finances of the
firm.

But Hajoui denied this saying bidding firms' auditors cannot check Regie's
books before the launch of the tender.

Authorities have given a consortium led by French Credit Lyonnais
(Paris:CRLP.PA - News) up to the end of January to finalise the
privatisation scenario of the firm, which has four processing plants and
20,000 sales outlets.

Morocco has set a $1.5 billion target for privatisation receipts in its 2003
budget and Regie's stake sale is expected to be the main operation this
year.