The Editorial Team |

Signs Say Yes for South African Bond Sales But Issuers Say No

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – With emerging-market credit spreads near their best levels in more than a decade, 2018 should’ve been the year to borrow. Yet bond sales by South African banks, insurers and property companies are headed for a five-year low. Not everyone is missing the boat. Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd., the country’s fastest-growing major lender, last week sold 500 million rand ($40 million) of three-year floating-rate notes at 153 basis points above the quarterly three-month Johannesburg…

Kenya’s Top Buyer of Banks Is Now Looking Ahead to Profits

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – SBM Holdings Ltd., the Mauritius lender that bought two Kenyan banks within months of each other, expects the combined operations to make a profit within a year. The second-biggest lender in the Indian Ocean island-nation is expanding in East Africa’s largest economy to use it as a hub for the rest of the region as part of a broader strategy funded by debt to add assets in its home…

After Wild Ride, Iron Ore Becalmed as Citi Warns on Outlook

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – $60s may just persist for a while longer. Citigroup Inc. expects prices will probably hold in that range through to the third quarter, while cautioning the raw material may trend lower longer term as scrap usage rises and steel demand weakens in China. The commodity will average $65 a ton this year, before easing to $60 in 2019, according to commodities strategist Tracy Liao. That compares with a year-to-date average…

OPEC, Allies Are Said to Mull New Ways to Measure Oil Stockpiles

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) OPEC and allied oil producers including Russia are discussing new ways of measuring global crude stockpiles, signalling a possible decision that could affect production cuts they’re making to ease a global glut. The oil market should re-balance in the second quarter due to improved compliance by producers with their pledged cuts and to summer demand for crude and refined products, according to people with knowledge of talks between OPEC and…

Threat of Cobalt Shock Is a Top Risk for Electric Vehicles

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – A burgeoning risk of a supply crunch in cobalt — a key battery metal that’s more than tripled in price in two years — poses one of the biggest threats to forecasts for rising electric vehicle adoption. Major investment in mines is required to avoid price spikes that could see cost reductions for lithium-ion batteries stall, Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysts said Monday in a report. Shortages of cobalt are likely earlier than…

Libya’s Oil Output Is Said to Wilt as Hot Weather Halts Turbines

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TRIPOLI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Libya’s crude production tumbled by at least 120,000 barrels a day after some oil-field equipment stopped operating due to hot weather, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Output at the Libyan Arabian Gulf Oil Co., known as Agoco, dropped to about 145,000 barrels a day on Tuesday from about 260,000, the person said, asking not to be identified for lack of authority to speak to…

MTN Is Said to Start $754 Million Ghana Unit IPO Next Week

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ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. will start selling more than a third of its Ghanaian unit for $754 million next week in an initial public offering that will be 10 times larger than the West African nation’s previous biggest-ever share sale, according to a person familiar with the matter. The offer to raise 3.48 billion cedis of stock will start May 29 and close at the end of July, said the person, asking not…

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