The Editorial Team |

Orange Said to Partner Ivorian Lender for West African Foray

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Orange SA is partnering Ivory Coast’s Groupe NSIA to start banking operations in West Africa as the telecommunications group accelerates an expansion into financial services, according to three people familiar with the matter. The venture plans to use the assets in Ivory Coast and Senegal that NSIAacquired from Nigeria’s Diamond Bank Plc in November, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The partnership will…

Heroin Is One of Biggest Mozambique Exports, Researchers Say

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MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mozambique boasts vast coal, ruby and gas deposits, but one of the southeast African nation’s biggest exports may be something more sinister: heroin. As much as $800 million worth of the narcotic is shipped annually from its beaches to neighboring countries and to Europe. That’s according to a research paper by Enact, a European Union-funded initiative to mitigate the impact of transnational organized crime, and a related working paper…

Islamist Militants Focus of Macron-Buhari Talks in Nigeria

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – French President Emmanuel Macron discussed ways to intensify the battle against Islamist militants in West Africa during talks with Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari. Nigeria’s fight against the nine-year-old Boko Haram insurgency in the far northeast has left more than 20,000 people dead and forced millions to flee their homes. In the semi-arid Sahel region south of the Sahara desert, France has deployed 4,000 troops in its Barkhane mission that’s hunting down Islamist…

U.S. Probe Darkens Glencore Horizons From Africa to Americas

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The possibility that the Justice Department would add to the dizzying array of regulatory and legal headaches the Swiss company is facing around the globe — from Russia to Africa and South America — has been a major worry for both executives and shareholders for months, people familiar with the matter said. Those concerns crystallized Tuesday with the announcement that U.S. investigators have subpoenaed documents related to Glencore’s activities in the Democratic Republic…

Japan’s Retail Army Is Piling Into Rand While Shunning Lira

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The lira’s loss is the rand’s gain. Japan’s retail investors are boosting holdings of South Africa’s currency at the fastest pace since 2009 while cutting foreign-exchange exposure in Turkey. Individual investors from the Asian nation have raised their net rand long position against the yen for five straight months through June, according to data from Tokyo Financial Exchange Inc. They have been reducing their net lira positioning for four months. “Japanese…

Swala Oil Extends Date for Close of Investment in Orca Group

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DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Swala Oil & Gas Tanzania Plc extended by two weeks the second and third closing off as much as $130 million investment in Orca Exploration Group Inc.’s Mauritian unit to July 13 from June 29, the company said. Extension to the second and third closing dates “have been necessary because of the preferred change of listing venue” for $50 million of bonds, the Dar es Salaam-based company said in…

Uganda Defends Introduction of Social-Media Tax After Outcry

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KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ugandan authorities defended the introduction of a tax on users of social media such as Facebook and Twitter, saying the revenue is necessary to fund public services. The daily levy equivalent to about 5 U.S. cents is “a small contribution of citizens towards the development of their country,” Minister of State for Finance David Bahati was quoted by the state-run Uganda Media Centre as saying on Tuesday. East Africa’s…

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