The Mozambican Minister of Industry and Trade, Silvino Moreno, has announced the existence of new investors who are prepared to take over the Maragra Sugar Company, in the southern district of Manhiça.
The South African Ilovo group, the largest sugar producer in Africa, owns 99 per cent of Maragra
But Ilovo has decided to pull out. The decision follows Maragra’s loss of 3.6 billion meticais (56 million dollars, at the current exchange rate) due to flooding last February. It was reported that Maragra would need a fresh investment of about 100 million dollars to recover fully from the damage.
According to Moreno, cited by the Maputo daily “Notícias”, “the information we have is that there are new owners who will be looking after the company in the near future. The former owners have decided not to continue with the sugar business.” Moreno did not name the new owners of Maragra.
The minister said that the report on the transfer operation was recently shared with the government as a mere communication since the executive does not intervene in the negotiations on the transfer of ownership of a private company.
In the meantime, according to Moreno, the government had facilitated the transaction between the former and current investors, in the hope that the sugar cane plantation would be in a healthy condition in time for the next agricultural season.
According to Moreno, the final details of the negotiation between the parties involved are currently being finalised, which will allow production to resume in the first few months of next year.
