South Africa’s PIC Skirted Rules by Merging Roles, Probe Hears

South Africa’s PIC Skirted Rules by Merging Roles, Probe Hears

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s Public Investment Corp. breached the money manager’s own memorandum of incorporation when the positions of chief investment and executive officers were combined under Dan Matjila, a former employee said. “What could have been the function of the CIO are now sitting with the CEO, and what could have been the functions of the COO are now sitting with the CFO,” Paul Magula, the former executive head of risk…

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Bouteflika’s Faltering Health Set to Deepen Algerian Turmoil

Bouteflika’s Faltering Health Set to Deepen Algerian Turmoil

ALGIERS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s health has reportedly deteriorated, deepening the uncertainty over his push for a fifth term in office that’s triggered unprecedented mass protests in the OPEC member state. The 82-year-old Bouteflika’s neurological reflexes have worsened and he requires constant care at the Geneva university hospital, Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve reported Wednesday. The development adds a new twist to the standoff between the regime and the predominantly young protesters who…

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Angola Plans to Open Up Downstream Oil Industry to Investors

Angola Plans to Open Up Downstream Oil Industry to Investors

LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Angola is opening up its downstream-oil industry to private investors to improve competition, Petroleum Minister Diamantino Azevedo said. The government plans to scrap a law that grants state-owned oil company Sonangol EP a monopoly of the industry, Azevedo said in an interview Thursday in the capital, Luanda. Liberalizing the downstream industry, which includes imports, distribution and storage, may result in “better prices,” he said. “We already initiated the process of liberalization,”…

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Algeria’s Tempest Grows as Powerful Groups Back Protesters

Algeria’s Tempest Grows as Powerful Groups Back Protesters

ALGIERS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Opposition to Algeria’s ruling regime swelled as lawmakers from the OPEC member’s oldest party resigned from parliament and a powerful group of veterans joined demonstrations against ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term. The escalating opposition against the 82-year-old president has posed the biggest challenge yet to a ruling elite, known as “le pouvoir,” that managed to avoid the turmoil that gripped neighbors during the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. The…

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Trump Wants China Deal and Stocks Rally. He May Not Get Both

Trump Wants China Deal and Stocks Rally. He May Not Get Both

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa): President Donald Trump wants the stock market to celebrate if he strikes a trade deal with China. Investors may struggle to deliver. The outcome could fall short of the definitive resolution of trade tensions that equities investors have priced in. Instead, the most likely scenario is an accord with few details, or a paucity of specifics on which tariffs will stay and which may go. Or, as Secretary of State Michael Pompeo pointed out this…

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EU, U.K. See Little Hope of Brexit Breakthrough With Days to Go

EU, U.K. See Little Hope of Brexit Breakthrough With Days to Go

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – European and U.K. officials are pessimistic about the chances of a breakthrough in Brexit talks, with Britain accusing the bloc of intransigence and European negotiators worried that whatever they offer won’t be enough to get Parliament behind Theresa May’s deal. According to three people familiar with the European side, there’s increasing concern that any concessions the bloc would be prepared to give wouldn’t be sufficient to win a majority in…

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Congo Lost $617 Million Dispute Before Approving Oil Deal

Congo Lost $617 Million Dispute Before Approving Oil Deal

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – An international court ordered the Democratic Republic of Congo to pay DIG Oil Ltd. of South Africa $617 million for failing to honor two oil contracts, weeks before outgoing President Joseph Kabila finally approved one of the deals. The previously undisclosed ruling is the latest twist in an 11-year dispute over concessions in the central African nation, which may hold as much as 6 percent of the continent’s oil reserves. Kabila’s belated assent…

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