The Editorial Team |

IMF Says Talks With Kenya on Fund-Supported Program Progress

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The International Monetary Fund said there is progress in talkswith Kenya for a new program, months after a standby facility for the East African nation ended. “Significant progress was made during the mission” in December “and discussions on a new fund-supported program are continuing,” said Jan Mikkelsen, the Washington-based lender’s representative in Kenya. “There is no particular timeline.” The previous program, an insurance-type facility that Kenya would draw from in the event…

Kenyan Bank Sees Decade’s Biggest Merger as African Springboard

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – After agreeing to Kenya’s biggest banking merger in at least a decade, Commercial Bank of Africa Ltd. and NIC Group Plc, are ready to take on regional rivals that have outsized them until now. The combined entity will have assets of 415 billion shillings ($4.1 billion) — about double what they each hold individually in the country — catapulting it past Co-operative Bank of Kenya Ltd. as the East African nation’s third-largest…

Gunvor Is Said to Discuss Possible Sale to Algeria’s Sonatrach

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ALGIER (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gunvor Ltd., the commodity trading house controlled by billionaire Torbjorn Tornqvist, has discussed selling the company to Algeria’s state oil and gas producer, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The idea is preliminary but Sonatrach has started due diligence on acquiring all or part of the company, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private negotiations. A second plan under consideration would see Sonatrach,…

Dollar Risk to Emerging Markets Is Over for Top European Manager

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The rising-dollar trend that inflicted so much damage on risk appetite in 2018 is all but a thing of the past, according to Amundi Asset Management. And that can only be good for emerging markets. “The two macro threats — basically the dollar and higher interest rates coming from the U.S. — are basically diminished and they are behind us,” Pascal Blanque, group chief investment officer for Amundi, said in…

Rwanda’s Biggest Lender to Start Investment Bank, Insurer

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KIGALI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Rwanda’s biggest lender is expanding into investment banking to win more business customers as competition for consumers intensifies. BK Group Plc’s Bank of Kigali will start its investment-banking unit in March, Chief Executive Officer Diane Karusisi said in an interview in the Rwandan capital. The lender also plans to start an insurance unit as it seeks to diversify earnings, she said. Rivalry in retail banking among the nation’s 11 commercial lenders is…

Ghana to Start $403 Million Debt Sale for Lenders Next Month

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ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana will start a debt sale next month to prop up lenders as authorities seek 2 billion cedis ($403 million) in finance for banks undercapitalized banks. The government created a special-purpose vehicle known as Ghana Amalgamated Trust, or GAT, which will use the debt sale’s proceeds to purchase shares in five lenders and help them meet a minimum capital threshold of 400 million cedis. GAT will pay debt investors a…

Anadarko Urgently Wants Armored Vehicles for Mozambique Project

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MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Anadarko Petroleum Corp. wants a fleet of at least six vehicles with armor heavy enough to stop AK-47 bullets at its natural-gas project in Mozambique. And it needs them soon. The company called for expressions of interest from potential suppliers of so-called B6 specification vehicles, and also wants associated fleet management services, according to an advertisement published in the Maputo-based Noticias newspaper on Thursday. Anadarko is expected to spend at…

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