The Editorial Team |

Blockchain Gets a Wall Street Win: `We Know the Thing Works Now’

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The prospect of blockchain technology remaking financial services just moved a step closer to reality after banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. completed a successful six-month test in the $2.8 trillion equity swaps market. The program, managed by blockchain startup Axoni, kept track of the swaps contracts after they were executed, recording things like amendments or termination of the deals, stock splits and dividends, and achieved…

Bitcoin’s White-Knuckle Ride Continues as It Hurtles Past $8,000

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin’s relentless and volatile rally shows no sign of abating, with the world’s largest cryptocurrency defying growing bubble fears to hit yet another milestone. Bitcoin rose as much as 6.7 percent to a record $8,224 as of 9:27 a.m. in New York. It’s been a tumultuous year for the virtual currency, with three separate slumps of more than 25 percent all giving way to subsequent rallies. “The inflation in…

Mediclinic Drops Spire Takeover After Second Bid Is Rejected

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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…

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