The Editorial Team |

Kenya Leader Consolidates Power as Political Alliances Shift

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta is redefining the nation’s tenuous political alliances in a move that’s likely to help him consolidate power during his final term and leave his deputy William Ruto out in the cold. Kenyatta has patched up a long-standing dispute with the main opposition leader, Raila Odinga, easing months of political tension in the East African nation over last year’s disputed election. The rapprochement has cast doubt over whether Kenyatta will honor…

MTN Plans to Raise $1.1 Billion in Debt in Nigeria This Year

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. plans to borrow as much as 400 billion naira ($1.1 billion) in Nigeria this year as Africa’s largest wireless carrier by sales seeks to fund local investment and replace existing debt in the continent’s most populous country. MTN plans to sell bonds and take out long-term loans as Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, recovers from a 2016 economic contraction. The carrier expects to list its Nigerian unit on the…

Naspers Scores! South African Company Notches Flipkart Win

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa’s largest company just chalked up another major investment coup. Naspers Ltd. netted a cool $1.6 billion profit from the sale of its 11 percent stake in Indian e-commerce start up Flipkart, a deal almost as lucrative as its sale of Polish online auction site Allegro in 2016. The move helps to line the pockets of the media and technology company, which is scouring the globe for investments to convince…

Emerging-Market Slump Shows IMF Reserves Endorsement Little Help

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ever since Thailand ushered in the Asian financial crisis by burning through its foreign-exchange reserves, those stockpiles have served as a gauge of resilience when turmoil erupts. This time round, the measure is looking shaky. Sure, there’s good correlation between the relatively low holdings in Argentina and Turkey and the slide in their assets. But India has the worst-performing exchange rate in Asia so far this year, and it has…

South Africa Mines Output Shrinks Most in Two Years in March

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mining output in South Africa, the world’s biggest platinum producer, contracted the most in two years in March. Production shrank 8.4 percent from a year earlier, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said in a statement Thursday. That’s the biggest contraction since March 2016 and compares with a revised 2 percent expansion in February, it said. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was for a 0.2 percent increase. Platinum output…

Sibanye’s Takeover of Lonmin May Fall Through, Liberum Says

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Sibanye Gold Ltd.’s deal to buy Lonmin Plc is at risk of falling apart as the struggling South African platinum miner burns through cash, according to Liberum Capital Ltd. One of the conditions of the deal is that Lonmin is net cash positive, but because of low metals prices and the strength of the rand, the company is burning through cash, said analysts in a note on Monday. “At…

High Africa Yields Raise Debt-Service Concern, AfDB Says

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Some African countries are overpaying for dollar bonds, raising concern about debt-service costs at a time when currencies are weakening against the greenback, according to the African Development Bank. High-interest rates make the continent’s bonds attractive to investors despite questions about the true extent of the debt loads of countries such as Zambia and the Republic of Congo. “Raising a 30-year bond at a yield of 950 basis points — that’s…

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