China’s Rise Will Change How Investors View Riskiest Markets

China’s Rise Will Change How Investors View Riskiest Markets

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – China’s Belt and Road initiative will provide a boon for frontier markets, but investors should probably do their homework before following Beijing’s money trail. Funding channelled as part of the Chinese-style globalization drive typically doesn’t come with expectations for reform, like aid provided by multilateral lenders. That means access to Chinese funds could see countries delay engaging with the International Monetary Fund for rescue packages, says Hasnain Malik, the…

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Mugabe’s New Round of Money Printing Traps Mobius in Zimbabwe

Mugabe’s New Round of Money Printing Traps Mobius in Zimbabwe

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Robert Mugabe’s latest economic experiment is making Zimbabwe’s stocks the world’s best performers for all the wrong reasons. And there’s little foreign investors like Franklin Templeton, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Allan Gray can do to escape: it’s practically impossible for them to pull out their money. Economic chaos has been a regular feature of investing under Mugabe’s 37-year reign because he frequently blindsides markets with policies that have devastating…

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Novogratz Set for Return With Hedge Fund Riding Bitcoin `Bubble’

Novogratz Set for Return With Hedge Fund Riding Bitcoin `Bubble’

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mike Novogratz is reinventing himself as the king of bitcoin. The swaggering macro manager who flamed out at Fortress Investment Group LLC is starting a $500 million hedge fund to invest in cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings and related companies. Novogratz will put up $150 million of his own money and plans to raise $350 million more by January, mainly from family offices, wealthy individuals and fellow hedge fund managers, said a person…

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Bitcoin and Copper in Lockstep Show Chinese Speculators’ Power

Bitcoin and Copper in Lockstep Show Chinese Speculators’ Power

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Copper and bitcoin don’t obviously have much in common.  One is an industrial metal, mined by giant trucks and used in everything from computer chips to plumbing tubes, the other a cryptocurrency that’s ’mined’ only in a virtual sense.  Yet the two have been moving in near unison for the past two months. Bitcoin and copper both rallied strongly from mid-July to early September. Then when bitcoin tumbled as…

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South Africa $7.5 Billion Pensions Bid `Untrue,’ Gigaba Says

South Africa $7.5 Billion Pensions Bid `Untrue,’ Gigaba Says

JOHANNESBUGH (Capital Markets in Africa) – A Bloomberg News report that South Africa’s National Treasury is seeking as much as 100 billion rand ($7.5 billion) from the government workers’ pension fund to finance struggling state companies is untrue, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said. The Public Investment Corp., which manages the fund and has about 1.86 trillion rand in assets, has been asked by the Treasury to buy its entire 12 billion-rand stake in Telkom SA SOC Ltd. to pay…

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Risky Roads a Boon for Airlines in War-Ravaged South Sudan

Risky Roads a Boon for Airlines in War-Ravaged South Sudan

SOUTH SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ayaak Deng’s first-ever flight let her skip over a hundred miles of bloodily contested South Sudan and visit family she hadn’t seen in a year. It’s the kind of trip that’s revitalizing small airlines that initially struggled because of the almost four-year civil war. The airport in the capital, Juba, has recorded about 1,000 domestic passengers a day this month, more than five times the average in the first half…

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Mauritian Whistle-Blower Drops Claims Against Attorney General

Mauritian Whistle-Blower Drops Claims Against Attorney General

PORT LOUIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A Mauritian whistle-blower withdrew allegations of money laundering that forced Attorney General Ravi Yerrigadoo to step down this month. Husein Abdool Rahim, who made the allegations earlier in September, said he’d been pressured by Port Louis-based newspaper l’Express and former Financial Services Minister Roshi Badhain into making claims that Yerrigadoo helped set up a financial structure to enable the transfer of gambling winnings to bank accounts in Dubai…

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