The Moroccan Bank for Commerce and Industry (BMCI) has scheduled an extraordinary general meeting for June 23, where shareholders will be asked to rubber-stamp the absorption of its subsidiary, the Sahel and Industry Development Bank (BDSI). The deal is essentially a formality: BMCI already owns 100% of BDSI, eliminating the need for any negotiations or share swaps.
This is a textbook case of a parent company absorbing a smaller affiliate. Legally, BDSI will cease to exist, and its assets and liabilities—amounting to a net value of just under 20 million dirhams—will be absorbed by BMCI. Shareholders are being summoned to officially approve the merger agreement and acknowledge that the move will be backdated to January 1 for accounting and tax purposes.
The merger premium—barely 419,000 dirhams—is trivial in the context of BMCI’s overall balance sheet, underlining how minor the transaction is. This isn’t a strategic pivot; it’s more of a bureaucratic cleanup. Everything has already been decided behind the scenes. The meeting is expected to be a formality, with no substantive discussion on the agenda. In reality, the merger was set in motion long before shareholders were invited to weigh in.
