The Editorial Team |

Steinhoff Signs Austrian Deal With Signa After Days of Haggling

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Steinhoff International Holdings NV signed off on the sale of Austrian furniture retailer Kika/Leiner and real estate assets to billionaire Rene Benko’s Signa Holding GmbH. Steinhoff is selling the retail companies for a nominal amount, and the properties for a price “based on an enterprise value” of 490 million euros ($570 million), subject to adjustments, the group said in a statement. Steinhoff accepted a conditional offer from Signa last week pending due…

Transnet Bosses Liable for Contract Overrun, Probe Concludes

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Top officials of Transnet SOC Ltd. should be liable for losses suffered from allegedly irregular and unlawful contracts the South African port and freight-rail operator entered when it agreed to buy 1,064 locomotives, an investigation ordered by the state-owned company concluded. Transnet’s board — which has since been replaced — approved the deal in 2014 to buy locomotives from China South Rail, China North Rail, General Electric Co. and Bombadier Inc….

Kenya Airways Could Resume Fuel Hedging in the Third Quarter

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya Airways Plc announced a return to a fuel-hedging strategy that it partly blamed for driving the company to record losses in recent years. Fuel costs make up about a quarter of the airline’s costs, Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Mikosz told reporters in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. KQ, as the company is known, abandoned fixed-price fuel contracts in 2016 when they locked it out of rock-bottom oil prices and caused it…

South Sudan Peace Talks Fail to Reach Consensus, Rebels Say

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SOUTH SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – The first face-to-face meeting in two years between South Sudan’s president and his exiled rival failed to achieve a deal, the country’s main rebel group said, asking for more time to reach a lasting agreement to end four years of civil war. President Salva Kiir and the leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition, Riek Machar, met in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, this week under a regional peace…

Cobalt Explorers See Congo Mine Law Offset by Price, High Grades

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KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Junior miners exploring for cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo reckon increased prices and the country’s high-grade deposits will offset the added costs of new legislation larger companies have opposed. Congo, the world’s largest source of the metal, this month began implementing an amended mining code that introduces new taxes and increases royalty payments. Miners including Glencore Plc, Randgold Resources Ltd. and China Molybdenum Co. have criticized the new law…

Buhari’s Feuding Party Threatens Re-Election Bid in Nigeria

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Widening splits in Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s ruling All Progressives Congress are jeopardising his bid for re-election next year. As the APC holds its national convention to elect party executives on Saturday, it’s threatened by defections as well as infighting between the presidency and its top lawmakers: Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara. They joined a coalition that helped Buhari, 75, become the first opposition leader in…

Algeria’s banking sector is adequately capitalised and profitable

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ALGIERS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The International Monetary Fund indicated that Algeria’s banking sector is adequately capitalised and profitable. It noted that the capital adequacy ratio of banks operating in Algeria increased from 18.9% at the end of 2016 to 19.6% at end-2017, while their Tier-One capital ratio declined from 16.3% at end-2016 to 15.2% at end-2017 as a result of higher credit growth. It also pointed out that the banks’ return on assets was at 2% and their return…

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