The Editorial Team |

Billionaire Agarwal to Boost Anglo Stake by Up to $2 Billion

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Anil Agarwal, an Indian mining billionaire, is buying 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion) worth of additional Anglo American Plc shares, increasing his stake in the blue-chip British miner that’s benefited from a recovery in commodity prices. Agarwal said Wednesday the purchase, which is the equivalent of about 9 percent, was a family investment and he doesn’t intend to make a takeover offer for the company, according to a statement. It comes…

Why `Contracts for Difference’ Are Under Scrutiny

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Contracts for difference, or CFDs, have hastened the demise of an Irish bank, triggered Ponzi schemes in Chile and featured in a $100 million U.S. insider-trading racket. More recently, they’ve spooked European regulators because of the risks they pose to retail investors. There are proposals to cap potential investor losses and to ban advertising of CFDs, which are pitched to investors via television commercials and sponsorships of soccer clubs from Real Madrid to…

UK banks to check 70m bank accounts in search for illegal immigrants

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Banks and building societies are to carry out immigration checks on 70m current accounts from January in the biggest extension of Theresa May’s plans to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants in Britain, the Guardian has learned. The Home Office expects to identify 6,000 visa overstayers, failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders facing deportation in the first year of the checks, which are to be carried out quarterly….

Unintended Result of Nigerian Dollar Hunt Is Naira Shortage

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – First Nigerian businesses were hit by a dollar shortage. Now there aren’t enough naira. A central bank requirement that companies back forward dollar purchases with naira is drying up supplies, helping to underpin a 2.1 percent gain since the local currency fell to a record low against the greenback on Aug. 9. At the same time, an increase in government borrowing is spurring banks to invest in the safety of sovereign debt rather…

Aliko Dangote Ups Bidding War for PPC With Cash, Share Offer

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Dangote Cement Plc, the Nigerian company controlled by Africa’s richest person, has written to PPC Ltd. offering South Africa’s biggest cement maker cash and shares as part of a takeover deal that is fuelling a bidding war. “We are waiting for them to get back to us, hopefully early next week,” Aliko Dangote said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in New York. “They can be part and parcel…

South Africa Inflation Stays Firmly Within Target Band in August

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s inflation rate stayed firmly within the central bank’s target band in August, strengthening the case for more policy easing on Thursday. Inflation quickened to 4.8 percent from 4.6 percent in July, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said Wednesday in a report on its website. The median estimate of 22 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for 4.9 percent. Prices rose 0.1 percent in the month. The higher inflation is unlikely to…

Kenya’s Top Court Slams Electoral Body Over Botched Election

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s top court delivered a stinging rebuke of the nation’s electoral commission, identifying a litany of failures in its handling of last month’s botched presidential elections and describing its explanations for the failure of its systems as unacceptable. The Supreme Court ruled the Aug. 8 election unlawful on Sept. 1, and ordered a rerun. A five-judge bench on Wednesday delivered the court’s detailed judgment, which upheld the main opposition’s complaints that President Uhuru…

« 1 … 641 642 643 644 645 … 1,077 »