The Editorial Team |

Mediclinic Drops Spire Takeover After Second Bid Is Rejected

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mediclinic International Plc dropped plans to buy the rest of Spire Healthcare Group Plc after its own investors and the U.K. private hospital operator spurned a deal that would have valued the target company at about 1.27 billion pounds ($1.68 billion). The South African hospital operator said the two sides were unable to reach an agreement following a month of talks after its Oct. 18 proposal was rejected as too low. Mediclinic had made another bid…

Nigerian Economic Growth Quickens as Oil Output Increases

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s economic growth accelerated in the third quarter as oil output rose to the highest since the start of last year. The gross domestic product of Africa’s largest crude producer expanded 1.4 percent in the three months through September from a year earlier, compared with a revised 0.7 percent in the second quarter, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said Monday in an emailed report. The median of 13 economists’ estimates…

HSBC Closes Accounts Linked to South Africa’s Guptas Amid Review

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – HSBC Holdings Plc is shuttering accounts associated with the powerful Gupta family as it assesses its exposure to the scandal gripping South Africa. The bank is conducting a wide-ranging review of any possible involvement in suspicious transactions, with the assistance of external investigators, people with knowledge of the matter said. HSBC first closed accounts held by companies linked to the Gupta family in 2014 after internal compliance procedures picked up…

Kenyan Court Backs President’s Vote Win, Ending Uncertainty

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s top court upheld Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential-election win, ending three months of electoral uncertainty that have slowed growth in East Africa’s biggest economy. Stocks gained the most in two months. Kenyatta won the rerun fairly and electoral authorities’ failure to hold polling in the country’s western region didn’t invalidate the outcome, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, rejecting all of the petitions challenging the vote. “The court has unanimously determined that the…

Nigeria’s Forte Oil Falls Most in Nine Months as MSCI Exit Looms

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian fuel retailer and electricity provider fell 9.7 percent to 43.89 naira by Monday close in Lagos. Volume traded more than 3 times the daily average for past 3 months. Decline “may be related to investors’ reactions to the announcement of the complete removal of the stock from the MSCI Frontier Market Indexes,” Kikelomo Alatise, equity analyst at Lagos-based Meristem Securities, says by email Funds tracking stocks that were deleted…

Zimbabwe’s Mugabe Faces Impeachment as He Balks at Retiring

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HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwean lawmakers are set to begin impeachment proceedings against President Robert Mugabe on Monday after he missed a ruling-party deadline to end his 37-year reign. Mugabe, 93, was widely expected to announce that he was stepping down in a televised address late on Sunday to enable Emmerson Mnangagwa, whom he fired as vice president earlier this month, to take over. Mugabe instead delivered a rambling and largely incoherent speech, in which he pledged…

IMF Sees Tough South Africa Budget Unless Fiscal Risk Sorted

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa will face more fiscal difficulties and higher financing costs should state-owned companies’ debt continue rising and if the nation’s local debt is downgraded to junk, the International Monetary Fund said. If state entities such as cash-strapped power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. and South African Airways request more state support, the government will have to step in to help, removing fiscal space for “more socially useful activities,” Montfort…

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