Saudi Arabian Mining Co. — M&A Activity 2019

Apr 18, 2019

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ma’aden Marketing and Distribution Company has signed a binding agreement to acquire 85% of the Meridian Group (Meridian).

1211 · 18/04/2019 08:11:07 · Announcement #54429 · View on Saudi Exchange

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ma’aden Marketing and Distribution Company has signed a binding agreement to acquire 85% of the Meridian Group (Meridian).

Element List

Explanation

Announcement Detail

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ma’aden Marketing and Distribution Company has signed today (18 April 2019) a binding agreement to acquire 85% of the Meridian Group (Meridian), based on an enterprise value of USD 140 million equivalent to SAR 525 million. The remaining 15% of Meridian is expected to be acquired over approximately the next four years.

Meridian is a leading agricultural inputs business operating in Mauritius and Southeast Africa. Private equity investors (managed by Phatisa) and minority shareholders from Meridian’s executive management currently own Meridian. Completion of the transaction to acquire 85% from Meridian Group is subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions and is expected in the third quarter of 2019.

Meridian distributes close to half a million tonnes of fertilizer across Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

The acquisition furthers Ma’aden’s 2025 strategy, which includes expanding operations and sales outside the Kingdom.

The transaction will be fully financed from Ma’aden’s cash on hand. The financial impact of the acquisition is expected to be reflected in 2019 third quarter financial results.

There are no related parties in the acquisition.

The Capital Market Authority and Saudi Exchange take no responsibility for the contents of this disclosure, make no representations as to its accuracy or completeness, and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss arising from, or incurred in reliance upon, any part of this disclosure, and the issuer accepts full responsibility for the accuracy of the information contained in it and confirms, having made all reasonable enquiries, that to the best of their knowledge and belief, there are no other facts or information the omission of which would make the disclosure misleading, incomplete or inaccurate.