South African Yields High Enough for Risks, Some Investors Say

South African Yields High Enough for Risks, Some Investors Say

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – A sell-off in emerging-market assets sparked by Turkey’s currency woes have pushed yields on South African rand bonds to levels where some investors see value. The yield on benchmark government rand bonds due December 2026 has snaked above 9 percent twice since Monday as markets also digested downbeat assessments of South Africa’s economy from Moody’s Investors Service and the South African Reserve Bank. By Friday they were higher than before Tuesday’s government bond…

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Ghana’s Growing Debt Pile Seen as Only Cure for Bad Banks

Ghana’s Growing Debt Pile Seen as Only Cure for Bad Banks

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The government of West Africa’s second-biggest economy — its budget already stretched by interest costs that consume about a third of its revenue — is piling on debt to cover the liabilities of failed lenders and settle arrears dating back 20 years. It was left with little choice but to issue bonds to save an industry the International Monetary Fund sees as a financial-stability threat. “If you don’t intervene then you…

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Angola Wealth Fund Case Against Dos Santos Unfair, Judge Says

Angola Wealth Fund Case Against Dos Santos Unfair, Judge Says

LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Angola’s sovereign wealth fund made an unfair case when it accused the son of the country’s former president of involvement in a “dishonest conspiracy” over the management of assets, a London judge ruled on Thursday. The fund breached a duty to make a fair presentation, judge Andrew Popplewell said in a ruling, which re-stated a decision to overturn a $3 billion freeze order on assets linked to the sovereign wealth fund….

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MTN Is Said to Mull Sale of Shares in $1 Billion-Rated Jumia

MTN Is Said to Mull Sale of Shares in $1 Billion-Rated Jumia

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. is exploring a sale of shares in African online retailer Jumia and values the company at as much as $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Africa’s largest wireless carrier is considering an initial public offering of the Amazon.com Inc.-style business on the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange, said the people, who asked not to be named as the information isn’t public. Johannesburg-based MTN is…

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More Pain Seen as Economists Lower Key South African Forecasts

More Pain Seen as Economists Lower Key South African Forecasts

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had hopes of lifting economic growth to 3 percent in 2018. Economists think that goal is even more unattainable than before. Average gross domestic product will be 1.4 percent this year, according to the median prediction by 22 respondents in a Bloomberg survey, which takes place monthly. This less than the 1.5 percent forecast in the July poll and is the fourth consecutive reduction in the outlook,…

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Mali President Keita Secures Second Term in Landslide Win

Mali President Keita Secures Second Term in Landslide Win

BAMAKO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita secured a second five-year term after beating former Finance Minister Soumaila Cisse in the Aug. 12 runoff election by a landslide. Keita secured 67 percent of the vote against Cisse’s 33 percent, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization Mohamed Ag Erlaf said in a broadcast on state television, ORTM. Turnout was 35 percent of the more than 8 million registered voters, according to Ag Erlaf. The 73-year-old…

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Buhari’s Undisguised Weapon to Win Nigeria Vote: Incumbency

Buhari’s Undisguised Weapon to Win Nigeria Vote: Incumbency

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s party may be wracked by defections and his battles against corruption and an Islamist rebellion under fire, but he has one crucial advantage in securing re-election: incumbency. The 75-year-old leader is going to need all the tools available to repeat his 2015 victory — the first time an opposition party won power at the ballot box in Africa’s biggest oil producer. At his disposal, analysts say,…

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