Prime wins bid for Ivory Coast cocoa firm’s assets
The little-known company is said to be the favoured bidder for shipper Saf-Cacao’s assets
Abidjan/Chicago — The liquidator of Saf-Cacao, one of Ivory Coast’s biggest cocoa exporters, named a little-known company as the favoured bidder for the shipper’s assets in a 170-billion CFA francs ($301m) offer, according to four people familiar with the matter. Liquidator Alain Guillemain considered two final bids for the processing and warehousing properties of Saf-Cacao and awarded the assets to a unit of Prime Group of Companies, headed by Moroccan national Karim Bouhout, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorised to speak publicly about the matter. Prime offered to make an initial payment of 40-billion francs and another 150-billion francs in installments over 10 years, said the people. The demise of Saf-Cacao, which purchased the second-highest volume of cocoa from the world’s top producer two years ago, left Ivorian lenders exposed to about 150-billion francs in unpaid debts and prompted banks to curb financing to exporters, raising the r...
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