The Editorial Team |

Steinhoff Wins Creditor Support for Debt Restructuring Plan

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Steinhoff International Holdings NV won support from a majority of creditors to restructure its 9.4 billion euros ($11 billion) of debt, seen by the embattled retailer as a vital step toward its recovery from an accounting scandal. The owner of Conforama in France and Mattress Firm in the U.S. sought a three-year extension to payments due to lenders and bondholders as the South African company repairs its balance sheet. About…

Wiese Named in $279 Million South African Tax Case, FM Says

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s tax agency is investigating local billionaire Christo Wiese and former executives at law firm ENSafrica for their role in obstructing the collection of 3.7 billion rand ($279 million) in taxes, according to a report in the Financial Mail. ENSafrica created a tax structure to help pan-African crude-oil explorer Tullow Oil Plc shift assets valued at 3.9 billion rand out of the country, dodging taxes in the process, the Johannesburg-based…

Ghana Raises Income Taxes to Maintain Budget-Deficit Target

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ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana plans to increase taxes for the highest earners as the West African nation seeks to boost weak collections which are putting its budget-deficit target at risk. Presenting a review of the 2018 budget in parliament on Thursday, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said the tax band for individuals earning more than 10,000 cedis ($2,089) per month will be raised to 35 percent, from the current top rate of 25 percent. Ghana collected…

EFG-Hermes Buys Nigerian Brokerage in Frontier Markets Push

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CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – EFG-Hermes Holding SAE bought Nigerian brokerage and research house Primera Africa Securities Ltd. as the investment bank seeks to expand in frontier markets across Africa and Asia. The acquisition marks Cairo-based EFG Hermes’s second foray into sub-Saharan Africa after receiving a Kenyan stockbroking license in July 2017, extending its reach to 12 countries including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman. The firm plans to use the Lagos-based operation as a hub to…

Nigerians Bury Cash in Backyards as Mobile Money Stumbles

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Every few days, Tasiu Abdurrahman takes the money he makes from selling spices in Nigeria’s biggest northern city and buries it in his yard. The 55-year-old closed his bank account eight years ago after growing disillusioned with standing in long lines for hours to deposit or withdraw cash. Abdurrahman is one of about 50 million of the unbanked in Nigeria, which despite having Africa’s largest mobile-phone market, is only just opening…

Eye of the Emerging-Market Storm May Have Passed the Rand

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The tide may have turned for South Africa’s battered rand. The currency slumped 14 percent in the second quarter, its worst three-month period in more than six years, amid an emerging-market sell-off sparked by rising U.S. rates and escalating trade tensions. It didn’t help that South Africa’s economy is struggling to emerge from a contraction, leaving the central little room for policy tightening. And the euphoria that followed Cyril Ramaphosa’s election…

Dis-Chem Climbs Most in Six Months as Pharmacy Chain Takes Share

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CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Dis-Chem Pharmacies Ltd. rose the most since January after South Africa’s second-biggest pharmacy chain gained market share as sales growth outstripped several local retailers. Retailers in Africa’s most-industrialized economy have struggled as higher taxes and fuel prices curb consumer spending. Dis-Chem’s sales for the four months through June rose 11 percent to 7 billion rand ($520 million), the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement on Thursday. That compares with Shoprite Holdings…

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