Morocco’s OCP Group has completed a landmark $1.5 billion hybrid bond issuance on international capital markets — the first hybrid dollar instrument ever issued by OCP and, more significantly, the first of its kind issued by any African corporate on international markets. The transaction, which closed on 15 April 2026, attracted a book order 4.6 times oversubscribed, with 176 institutional investors from 23 countries participating. The operation was arranged by BNP Paribas, Citi and JP Morgan, a lead-arranger consortium that itself reflects OCP’s standing in the upper tier of globally recognized corporate issuers.
The bond is structured in two tranches. The first, worth $1 billion, carries a coupon of 6.74 percent and is callable from April 2031. The second, worth $500 million, carries a coupon of 7.37 percent and is callable from April 2036. From a capital structure perspective, the hybrid instrument occupies a distinctive position: it is classified as 100 percent equity under IFRS accounting standards and receives 50 percent equity credit from rating agencies Moody’s and S&P. This dual treatment allows OCP to raise capital that effectively bolsters its balance sheet equity while remaining categorized as debt for tax purposes — a sophisticated financing mechanism that enables the group to grow its investment programme without putting pressure on its Investment Grade credit ratios.
The timing of the transaction is itself a statement. It reopens the primary bond market for the CEEMEA region — the Middle East, Africa and Central and Eastern Europe — which had been paralyzed for over a month by geopolitical turbulence stemming from the conflict in the Middle East. The demand, which reportedly approached $7 billion at peak, demonstrates that OCP commands investor confidence even in exceptionally volatile market conditions. This is a function not only of the group’s financial fundamentals but of its structural positioning: OCP controls phosphate reserves of global significance and operates an integrated value chain that produces cash flows resilient across commodity cycles.
The hybrid issuance is also the natural extension of OCP’s domestic program. The group has conducted three hybrid operations on the Moroccan market since 2016, totaling the equivalent of $1.5 billion, with a record of zero deferred coupon activations — a track record of discipline that reassures international investors new to the instrument. In 2025, OCP posted revenues of $12.2 billion, up 25 percent year-on-year, with an EBITDA of $4.6 billion and a net leverage ratio of 2.76 times EBITDA — fundamentals that position the group as one of the highest-quality credit signatures available to international fixed income investors from the African continent.
The broader significance of the transaction extends beyond OCP. For Africa’s capital markets, the issuance establishes a precedent: that an African public-sector corporate can access the international hybrid bond market, attract marquee global investors and achieve competitive pricing in adverse conditions. It elevates the benchmark for African corporate finance and signals that the continent’s most sophisticated issuers are ready to compete on equal terms with their CEEMEA peers — a milestone with potential implications for how other African corporates approach international capital markets in the years ahead.