Author: The Editorial Team

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is considering whether to back a proposal to improve troubled Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s debt terms by closing polluting coal plants early to make way for renewable energy. A special purpose vehicle would lower interest rates paid by the state-owned utility by accelerating the closure of coal-fired stations, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the information isn’t…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Companies in Ghana seeking to issue bonds to meet capital needs are likely to exceed equity offerings in 2019, with the Accra bourse heading for a fall for a second straight year, according to the nation’s securities regulator. While the Ghana Stock Exchange recorded no new bond issues or equity listings from companies in the first half, three institutions plan to offer debt before the close of year totaling about 350…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s Africa unit plunged in London trading after raising about $750 million in an initial public offering, making it among the worst debuts on European exchanges this year. Airtel Africa Ltd. dropped as much as 16% to 67 pence per share, matching the first-day decline for OssDsign AB last month. Airtel Africa said it had priced the offering at 80 pence a share, at the low end of its range, giving the…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s biggest labor union federation signaled a “massive fight” with the ruling party if the state-owned fund manager failed to rescue the country’s second-largest clothing retailer, Edcon Holdings Ltd. A week after a senior labor union official sent an email on Feb. 22 to the country’s then-deputy finance minister, the Public Investment Corp., which manages more than 2 trillion rand ($141 billion) of mainly government worker pensions, led a…