Kenyan Economy Expands at Fastest Pace in Five Years in 2016

Kenyan Economy Expands at Fastest Pace in Five Years in 2016

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s economy, East Africa’s largest, expanded at the fastest pace in five years in 2016, boosted by more construction and tourism. Gross domestic product increased 5.8 percent last year, the most since 2011, from a revised 5.7 percent in 2015, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Director General Zachary Mwangi told reporters Wednesday in Nairobi, the capital. Expansion could have been more robust had it not been for a sluggish…

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Complexities in Financing Energy Projects in Africa

Complexities in Financing Energy Projects in Africa

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Understanding the need for financing of projects in the African Energy Sector: The power sector is a fundamental building block for economic advancement in any country. Abundant, affordable and reliable energy is the cornerstone of growth in today’s world. The great efforts undertaken by the African States to supply sustainable energy to its people have been well documented in the last number of years, along with a shift from conventional fuels…

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The Role of Commercial Debt In Infrastrcuture Funding

The Role of Commercial Debt In Infrastrcuture Funding

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – It is without a doubt that innovative, consistent, funding sources are needed to fill the estimated circa USD93 billion annual African public infrastructure shortfall over the next decade in rail, road, port, water, and power infrastructure across the continent. A lot has been written about the state of existing infrastructure and the lack of new investment and maintenance which has led to the slow and meagre generation of GDP…

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Aspen Tumbles as Drugmaker Faces Pressure From Pricing Probe

Aspen Tumbles as Drugmaker Faces Pressure From Pricing Probe

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. fell the most in more than a month after The Times of London reported that Africa’s biggest maker of generic drugs is in a dispute with Spanish authorities over proposed price increases on some cancer treatments. Employees at the Durban, South Africa-based company discussed destroying a stock of cancer drugs in Spain if a demand to raise prices by as much as 4,000 percent wasn’t met,…

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Ecobank Tumbles With Shareholder Nedbank After Record Loss

Ecobank Tumbles With Shareholder Nedbank After Record Loss

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Pan-African lender Ecobank Transnational Inc. said it made a record pretax loss of $131 million last year, pushing its shares down along with those of Nedbank Group Ltd., its biggest stockholder. Ecobank fell 5 percent to 7.79 naira in Lagos, the lowest since 2009. Nedbank, South Africa’s fourth-largest lender by assets and owner of about one-fifth of Ecobank shares, declined 4.8 percent to 221.45 rand, the most among its local banking peers….

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Sibanye to Raise $2 Billion in Equity, Debt for Stillwater Deal

Sibanye to Raise $2 Billion in Equity, Debt for Stillwater Deal

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Sibanye Gold Limited plans to raise $1 billion from shareholders and a further $1 billion in debt, most likely bonds, to pay for the acquisition of Colorado-based Stillwater Mining Co. The funds will be raised by the middle of this year and will help repay a $2.65 billion bridge loan from a group of banks, Westonaria, South Africa-based Sibanye said in a statement Tuesday. The remainder of the loan will be repaid…

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Zambia Seeks IMF Deal of as Much as $1.6 Billion This Month

Zambia Seeks IMF Deal of as Much as $1.6 Billion This Month

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, plans to reach an aid deal for as much as $1.6 billion with the International Monetary Fund by the end of April, Finance Minister Felix Mutati said. Bond yields fell. “At the moment we know that we can get up to $1.6 billion — if you ask me, I’d go for the maximum,” he said in an interview Monday in the capital, Lusaka. “Hopefully the program…

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