Banque Centrale Populaire is the central entity of Banque Centrale Populaire group, a cooperative banking group headquartered in Morocco. BCP is listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange since 2004. BCP’s main shareholders are the Banque Populaires Régionales that collectively own 34.6% of the capital of the Bank. Other shareholders include Caisse Interprofessionnelle Marocaine de Retraite (CIMR, 14.9%), BCP Group employees (5.4%), BPCE (4.1%), and other institutional investors (28.6%). 12.4% of the capital of BCP is free float on the Casablanca Stock Exchange.

CMGP is established in Casablanca, Morocco since 1995 and specializes in the import, manufacturing, distribution, and installation of irrigation products (https://cmgp-cas.com/). The Company commercializes equipment manufactured in its SICDA factories (SICDA I, II and III) based in the Berrechid region, 16 km south of Casablanca. The factories manufacture irrigation equipment and piping, including polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene (PE) pipes and accessories used for water supply, urban sewerage, agriculture, or buildings, with a total annual production capacity of 35,000 tons of piping and a logistic platform of 80,000 m².

Over the last 5 years, CMGP has expanded its business to become ‘CMGP Group’ (the “Group”), via horizontal integration with PHILEA in 2018 and ‘Comptoir Agricole du Souss’ (“CAS”) in 2021, both specialized in the agro-supply sector. By doing so, the Group has expanded its scope of activities to the storage and trade of Crop Protection Products (CPP), including pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. IFC will not finance CPP distribution to the beneficiaries of this proposed investment.

CMGP Group is currently owned by (i) African Development Partners II, a DPI fund; (ii) Africa Agriculture and MPEF IV, two AfricInvest funds; (iii) FIPAR; (iv) Mr. Youssef Moamah; and (v) Mr. Jacques Alleon.

The proposed Project will be in the form of a Risk Sharing Program for up to MAD162 million and will cover up to 50% of the credit risk taken by BCP on a portfolio of loans to farmers clientele and distributors of CMGP, after a first loss guarantee that will be provided by CMGP.

 BCP and CMGP are headquartered in Morocco. The farmers and distributors that will benefit from the Risk Sharing Program are based in Morocco.

This is a Category B project based on IFC’s 2012 Environmental and Social Sustainability Policy. The E&S risks and impacts of this proposed project are few, largely reversible and can be avoided or mitigated by adhering to Good International Industry Practices (GIIP). Key E&S risks and issues applicable for this investment are related to: (a) CMPG’s E&S policies, management systems, including screening systems for farmers and its distributors with respect to IFC PSs and capacity/competency of the EHS function; (b) assurance of fair, safe and healthy working conditions for employees and contractors with respect to IFC PS2 and legal requirements; (c) emissions, effluent and waste management; (d) road traffic safety and security management and (e) stakeholder engagement plan and community grievance mechanism.