(Business in Cameroon) - On July 19, 2018, the French group Rougier, specialized in forest exploitation in Africa (Under judicial review since March 2018) announced that six days earlier, Poitiers commercial court allowed it to sell its shares in Cameroon and the Republic of Central Africa.  

The buyer is Société de distribution nouvelle d’Afrique (Sodinaf), owned by the 40 year old Cameroonian economic operator who made his fortune in the importation of food products such as rice.

Thanks to the transaction concluded by both parties on July 16, 2018, in Douala, Sodinaf is taking control of Société forestière et industrielle de la Doumé (SFID), Cambois and Sud Participation in Cameroon. In the Republic of Central Africa, it is Rougier Sangha-Mbaéré (RSM) which falls in the portfolio of Sodinaf.

The amount of this operation was not revealed but authorized sources reveal that Sodinaf which also has operations in Chad, Central Africa, and Congo DR, was financially supported by Société générale Cameroon in the shares purchasing operation.

“This shares purchase will help rationalize the group’s portfolio of activities. Rougier, which wants to remain an important actor in the sector can then continue its geographic refocusing in better conditions”, Rougier group announces in an official statement.  

Let’s remind that on March 12, 2018, holding Rougier SA, listed on Euronext, was placed under judicial review in France in order to implement important refocusing actions. However, the Group’s subsidiaries such as Rougier Sylvaco Panneaux, which have their economic and financial freedom, are not concerned by that review.

Brice R. Mbodiam