Moroccan pharmaceutical tycoon Lamia Tazi’s interest in Marocaine Ste de Therapeutique (Sothema) has seen a major reduction in market value over the last 23 days, as shares in the Casablanca-based pharmaceutical company have fallen sharply.
The Moroccan executive, who is one of the region’s wealthiest businesswomen, has seen the market value of her Sothema stake fall by MAD30.86 million ($3.06 million) in the last 23 days as investors continue to reduce their stakes in the pharmaceutical company as part of a strategic move to reduce stakes in risky assets.
Sothema is Morocco’s largest healthcare corporation, generating over 60 million units of pharmaceuticals each year and managing a diverse portfolio of 35 global laboratories that manufacture and export items to Europe, the Maghreb, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Persian Gulf.
Tazi’s shares in the Moroccan pharmaceutical company have lost 4.85 percent of their value since Jan. 24, going from MAD1,051 ($104.304) on Jan. 24 to MAD1,000 ($99.243) as of this writing.
Tazi, Sothema’s CEO and chairwoman and one of the most wealthy investors on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, owns a significant 8.4 percent stake in the premier healthcare company, which equates to 605,030 issued shares.
Tazi’s stake has decreased by MAD30.9 million ($3.06 million) in the last three weeks due to a single-digit percent drop in the group’s share price, from MAD635.9 million ($63.1 million) on Jan. 22 to MAD605 million ($60.04 million) at the time of this report.
Tazi’s recent financial loss parallels the broader issues that Sothema is facing, illustrating the volatility nature of the stock market and its far-reaching consequences, even for famous business individuals.